wry
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English wrien, from Old English wrīġian (“to go, turn, twist, bend, strive, struggle, press forward, endeavor, venture”), from Proto-Germanic *wrigōną (“to wriggle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyḱ- (“to turn, wrap, tie”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”). Compare awry, wriggle.
Adjective
wry (comparative wrier or wryer, superlative wriest or wryest)
- Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
- 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, chapter 17, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
- '"Why, you snivelling, wry-faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.
- 1913, Victor Appleton, “chapter 11”, in The Motion Picture Chums at Seaside Park:
- “Humph! Had to,” said Pep with a wry grimace.
- Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
- 1871, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, “chapter 6”, in The Haunted Baronet:
- "[T]he master says a wry word now and then; and so ye let your spirits go down, don't ye see, and all sorts o' fancies comes into your head."
- Twisted, bent, crooked.
- Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
- 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XXXIV, in The Abbot. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 218:
- Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.
- 1876, Walter Savage Landor, The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor, volume IV, Imaginary Conversations, Third Series: Dialogues of Literary Men, ch. 6—Milton and Andrew Marvel, page 155 (Google preview):
- . . . the wry rigour of our neighbours, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application.
Derived terms
Translations
contorted
|
dryly humorous
|
twisted
|
Verb
wry (third-person singular simple present wries, present participle wrying, simple past and past participle wried)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
- 1535, Thomas More, chapter 18, in Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation:
- God pricketh them of his great goodness still. And the grief of this great pang pincheth them at the heart, and of wickedness they wry away.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
- You married ones,
If each of you should take this course, how many
Must murder wives much better than themselves
For wrying but a little!
- (obsolete, transitive) To divert; to cause to turn away.
- (transitive) To twist or contort (the body, face, etc.).
Translations
to divert
|
Noun
wry
Etymology 2
From Middle English wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from Old English wrēon (“to cover, clothe, envelop”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīhan, from Proto-Germanic *wrīhaną (“to wrap, cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyḱ- (“to turn, wrap, tie”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”).
Verb
wry (third-person singular simple present wries, present participle wrying, simple past and past participle wried)
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