Wryneck definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WRYNECK, n. [wry and neck.]
1. A twisted or distorted neck; a deformity in which the neck is drawn to one side, and at the same time somewhat forwards.
2. A disease of the spasmodic kind in sheep, in which the head is drawn to one side.
3. In ornithology, a bird resembling the woodpeckers, the Yunx torquilla; so called form the singular manner in which when surprised, it tuns its head over its shoulders.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an unnatural condition in which the head leans to one side because the neck muscles on that side are contracted [syn: torticollis, wryneck]
2: Old World woodpecker with a peculiar habit of twisting the neck

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1585 1. either of two Old World woodpeckers (Jynx torquilla or J. ruficollis) that differ from the typical woodpeckers in having soft tail feathers and a peculiar manner of writhing the neck 2. torticollis

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 = TORTICOLLIS. 2 any bird of the genus Jynx of the woodpecker family, able to turn its head over its shoulder.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wryneck Wry"neck, n. (Med.) 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. 2. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of Old World birds of the genus Jynx, allied to the woodpeckers; especially, the common European species (J. 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.

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