wryneck
Americannoun
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Informal.
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a person having torticollis.
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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.
noun
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either of two cryptically coloured Old World woodpeckers, Jynx torquilla or J. ruficollis, which do not drum on trees
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another name for torticollis
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informal a person who has a twisted neck
Etymology
Origin of wryneck
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A particularly unsettling development has the sister cities of St. Pete and Tampa at each other's wryneck throats.
From Time Magazine Archive
When far off they uttered cries which reminded me of that of the wryneck, and which I at first thought came from a little auk.
From Farthest North Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship 'Fram' 1893-1896 by Fridtjof Nansen
The incident seemed to show that the wryneck had been scarce at this place for a very long period.
From Birds in Town and Village by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson
All at once he remembered that he knew, or had known formerly, the wryneck very well, but he had never learnt its name.
From Birds in Town and Village by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson
I have lingered long over the wryneck, but have still a story to relate of this bird—not a fairy tale this time, but true.
From Birds in Town and Village by W. H. (William Henry) Hudson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
