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

See Examples For:

wryneck

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

From Time Magazine Archive

He then describes the differences in the structure of their feet; remarking, that most of them have three toes before and one behind, although a few, as the wryneck, have two only before.

From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by William MacGillivray

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.

From The Hills and the Vale by Richard Jefferies

In the book was a Latin recipe for drying the poor wryneck, and using him as a philtre which should compel the love of any person desired.

From Hereward, the Last of the English by Charles Kingsley

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