wryneck
Informal.
a person having torticollis.
any of several small Old World climbing birds of the subfamily Jynginae, of the woodpecker family, noted for the peculiar habit of twisting the head and neck.
Origin of wryneck
1Words Nearby wryneck
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use wryneck in a sentence
Last year the wryneck was a scarce bird in this neighbourhood; in all my walks I heard but two or three, and at long intervals.
The Hills and the Vale | Richard JefferiesThe sound is unlike any other, but that is nothing, since the same can be said of the wryneck and cuckoo and grasshopper warbler.
Birds and Man | W. H. HudsonI have lingered long over the wryneck, but have still a story to relate of this bird--not a fairy tale this time, but true.
Birds in Town and Village | W. H. HudsonAll at once he remembered that he knew, or had known formerly, the wryneck very well, but he had never learnt its name.
Birds in Town and Village | W. H. HudsonNightjars love this quiet corner, and the nuthatch and the wryneck find sanctuary in the hollows of the trees.
In the West Country | Francis A. Knight
British Dictionary definitions for wryneck
/ (ˈraɪˌnɛk) /
either of two cryptically coloured Old World woodpeckers, Jynx torquilla or J. ruficollis, which do not drum on trees
another name for torticollis
informal a person who has a twisted neck
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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