wryneck

[ rahy-nek ]

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.

wryneck

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of wryneck¹

First recorded in 1575–85; wry + neck

Example Sentences

He added that on a previous bird watching trip he had seen a migratory wryneck hit by a train.

From BBC

Waterston never wrote up his wrynecks, while another man, John Barrett, posted to himself at war's end a huge body of raw data that never arrived.

From The Guardian

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

From Project Gutenberg

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 Project Gutenberg

Now the spring visitors—as the cuckoo, the swallow, and wryneck—appear in Surrey considerably sooner than they do farther west.

From Project Gutenberg