Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WRY'NECK, n. [wry and neck.]

1. A twisted or distorted neck; a deformity in which the neck is drawn to one side, and at the same time somewhat forward. – Cyc.
2. A disease of the spasmodic kind in sheep, in which the head is drawn to one side. – Cyc.
3. In ornithology, a bird resembling the woodpeckers, the Yunx torquilla; so called from the singular manner in which, when surprised, it turns its head over its shoulders. – Ed. Encyc.