wry

CIDE DICTIONARY

wry, v. t. [AS. wreón.].

 To cover.  [1913 Webster]
"Wrie you in that mantle."  [1913 Webster]

wry, a. [Akin to OE. wrien to twist, to bend, AS. wrigian to tend towards, to drive.].

•  Turned to one side; twisted; distorted; as, a wry mouth.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence, deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place; as, wry words.  [1913 Webster]

  "Not according to the wry rigor of our neighbors, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application."  [1913 Webster]
•  Wrested; perverted.  [1913 Webster]

  "He . . . puts a wry sense upon Protestant writers."  [1913 Webster]

Wry face, a distortion of the countenance indicating impatience, disgust, or discomfort; a grimace.

wry, v. i. 

•  To twist; to writhe; to bend or wind.  [1913 Webster]
•  To deviate from the right way; to go away or astray; to turn side; to swerve.  [1913 Webster]

  "This Phebus gan awayward for to wryen."  [1913 Webster]

  "How many
  Must murder wives much better than themselves
  For wrying but a little!"  [1913 Webster]

wry, v. t. [OE. wrien. See Wry, a.].

 To twist; to distort; to writhe; to wrest; to vex.  Sir P. Sidney.  [1913 Webster]
"Guests by hundreds, not one caring
If the dear host's neck were wried."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wry, adj. (wryer, wryest or wrier, wriest)
1 distorted or turned to one side.
2 (of a face or smile etc.) contorted in disgust, disappointment, or mockery.
3 (of humour) dry and mocking.

Derivative

wryly adv. wryness n.

Etymology

wry (v.) f. OE wrigian tend, incline, in ME deviate, swerve, contort

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

wry

Distortion

N distortion, detortion, contortion, twist, crookedness, grimace, deformity, malformation, malconformation, harelip, monstrosity, misproportion, want of symmetry, anamorphosis, ugliness, talipes, teratology, asymmetry, irregularity, distorted, out of shape, irregular, asymmetric, unsymmetric, awry, wry, askew, crooked, not true, not straight, on one side, crump, deformed, harelipped, misshapen, misbegotten, misproportioned, ill proportioned, ill-made, grotesque, monstrous, crooked as a ram's horn, camel backed, hump backed, hunch backed, bunch backed, crook backed, bandy, bandy legged, bow legged, bow kneed, knock kneed, splay footed, club footed, round shouldered, snub nosed, curtailed of one's fair proportions, stumpy, gaunt, bloated, scalene, simous, taliped, talipedic, all manner of ways, crooked as a Virginia fence.