Definition of "wryneck" [wry•neck]

• Either of two small Old World woodpeckers (Jynx torquilla or J. ruficollis), having a sharply pointed bill and the habit of twisting the head and neck into contortions. (noun)
• See torticollis. (noun)
• A person with torticollis. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The adjective 'wryneck'd' refers, not to the instrument itself, which was straight, but to the player, whose head has to be slightly twisted round to get at the mouthpiece."
• "The instrument was therefore held _across_ [traverso] the face of the player, whose head would be turned sideways, and hence comes Shylock's description of it as the 'wryneck'd' fife."
• "It shares this quality with only two other birds, I think: the wryneck, an aberrant woodpecker, and another night bird, the nightjar."