v. i. 1. To twist; to writhe; to bend or wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To deviate from the right way; to go away or astray; to turn side; to swerve. [ 1913 Webster ]

This Phebus gan awayward for to wryen. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

How many
Must murder wives much better than themselves
For wrying but a little! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Wried; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrying. ] [ OE. wrien. See Wry, a. ] To twist; to distort; to writhe; to wrest; to vex. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

Guests by hundreds, not one caring
If the dear host's neck were wried. R. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ AS. wreón. ] To cover. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Wrie you in that mantle. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Wrier superl. Wriest. ] [ Akin to OE. wrien to twist, to bend, AS. wrigian to tend towards, to drive. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Turned to one side; twisted; distorted; as, a wry mouth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place; as, wry words. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not according to the wry rigor of our neighbors, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Wrested; perverted. [ 1913 Webster ]

He . . . puts a wry sense upon Protestant writers. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wry face, a distortion of the countenance indicating impatience, disgust, or discomfort; a grimace. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Crookbill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any one of several species of large, elongated, marine fishes of the genus Cryptacanthodes, especially Cryptacanthodes maculatus of the American coast. A whitish variety is called ghostfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A twisted or distorted neck; a deformity in which the neck is drawn to one side by a rigid contraction of one of the muscles of the neck; torticollis. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a person suffering from torticollis. [ PJC ]

3. (Zool.) Any one of several species of Old World birds of the genus Jynx or subfamily Jynginae, allied to the woodpeckers; especially, the common European species (Jynx torguilla); -- so called from its habit of turning the neck around in different directions. Called also cuckoo's mate, snakebird, summer bird, tonguebird, and writheneck. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Having a distorted neck; having the deformity called wryneck{ 1 }. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being wry, or distorted. W. Montagu. [ 1913 Webster ]

obs. p. p. of Writhe. Writhen. [ 1913 Webster ]