wryneck

American  

[rahy-nek] / ˈraɪˌnɛk /

noun

1. Informal.

   1. torticollis.

   2. a person having torticollis.

2. 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.

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wryneck British  

/ ˈraɪˌnɛk /

noun

1. either of two cryptically coloured Old World woodpeckers, Jynx torquilla or J. ruficollis, which do not drum on trees

2. another name for torticollis

3. informal a person who has a twisted neck

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Etymology

Origin of wryneck

First recorded in 1575–85; wry + neck

Example Sentences

A particularly unsettling development has the sister cities of St. Pete and Tampa at each other's wryneck throats.

From Time Magazine Archive

Snake′-bird, a darter: the wryneck; Snake′-eel, a long Mediterranean eel, its tail without a tail-fin.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

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 Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)

Says the author quoted above: "When the sitting bird is interfered with, she defends her treasures with great courage, hissing like a wryneck, and vigorously striking at her aggressor with her sharp bill."

From Our Bird Comrades by Keyser, Leander S. (Leander Sylvester)

The sound is unlike any other, but that is nothing, since the same can be said of the wryneck and cuckoo and grasshopper warbler.

From Birds and Man by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)