wry

English

WOTD – 31 March 2012

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹaɪ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophone: rye

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)

1. 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 28228280:

     '"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.

2. 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."

3. Twisted, bent, crooked.
4. Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
   • 1820, [Walter Scott], The Abbot. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], OCLC 963570130:

     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

• awry
• wryly
• go awry

Translations

contorted

• Czech: pokřivený m, křivý (cs) m
• Dutch: verdraaid (nl), verwrongen (nl)
• Finnish: poispäin kääntynyt
• German: verdreht (de)

• Greek: στρεβλός (el) m (strevlós), λοξός (el) m (loxós)
• Hungarian: eltorzult (hu)
• Russian: искажённый (ru) m (iskažónnyj), скривившийся (ru) m (skrivivšijsja)
• Swedish: förvriden (sv), skev (sv)

dryly humorous

• Czech: jízlivý (cs) m, sarkastický m
• Dutch: droog (nl), ironisch (nl)
• Finnish: kuiva (fi)
• German: sarkastisch (de), ironisch (de)

• Greek: πικρόχολος (el) m (pikrócholos), σαρκαστικός (el) m (sarkastikós)
• Italian: sarcastico (it)
• Russian: язвительный (ru) m (jazvitelʹnyj)
• Swedish: spydig (sv), syrlig (sv), ironisk (sv), torr (sv)

twisted

• Dutch: verdraaid (nl), verwrongen (nl)
• Finnish: kiero (fi), vääntynyt (fi)
• German: verdreht (de), gewunden (de)

• Greek: στρεβλός (el) m (strevlós)
• Maori: koronuke, hapa, hape, kōiheihe, korotuke
• Russian: искривлённый (ru) m (iskrivljónnyj)

Verb

wry (third-person singular simple present wries, present participle wrying, simple past and past participle wried)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
   • 1535, Thomas More, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, ch. 18:

     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 606515358, [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!

2. (obsolete, transitive) To divert; to cause to turn away.
3. (transitive) To twist or contort (the body, face, etc.).

Translations

to turn away

• Dutch: wegdraaien (nl), zich (nl) afkeren (nl)

• Finnish: kääntyä pois

to divert

• Dutch: wegdraaien (nl)
• Finnish: johtaa harhaan

• Swedish: avleda (sv)

to twist

• Dutch: wringen (nl), verwringen (nl), verdraaien (nl)
• Finnish: vääntää (fi)

• Russian: искажать (ru) (iskažatʹ)
• Swedish: förvrida (sv)

Noun

wry

1. (regional) Distortion.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from Old English wrēon (“to cover, clothe, envelop, conceal, hide, protect, defend”), 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)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.