1.
[syn: dry, ironic, ironical, wry]
2. bent to one side;
- Example: "a wry neck"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wry \Wry\, 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.
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2. Hence, deviating from the right direction; misdirected;
out of place; as, wry words.
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Not according to the wry rigor of our neighbors, who
never take up an old idea without some extravagance
in its application. --Landor.
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3. Wrested; perverted.
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He . . . puts a wry sense upon Protestant writers.
--Atterbury.
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Wry face, a distortion of the countenance indicating
impatience, disgust, or discomfort; a grimace.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wry \Wry\, v. t. [AS. wre['o]n.]
To cover. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Wrie you in that mantle. --Chaucer.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wry \Wry\, v. i.
1. To twist; to writhe; to bend or wind.
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2. To deviate from the right way; to go away or astray; to
turn side; to swerve.
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This Phebus gan awayward for to wryen. --Chaucer.
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How many
Must murder wives much better than themselves
For wrying but a little! --Shak.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Wry \Wry\, 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.
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Guests by hundreds, not one caring
If the dear host's neck were wried. --R. Browning.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
wry
adj 1: humorously sarcastic or mocking; "dry humor"; "an ironic
remark often conveys an intended meaning obliquely"; "an
ironic novel"; "an ironical smile"; "with a wry Scottish
wit" [syn: dry, ironic, ironical, wry]
2: bent to one side; "a wry neck"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
23 Moby Thesaurus words for "wry":
agee, agee-jawed, askance, askant, askew, askewgee, asquint, awry,
catawampous, catawamptious, cockeyed, crooked, cynical, ironic,
skew, skew-jawed, skewed, slaunchways, squinting, wamper-jawed,
wrest, wring, yaw-ways