[f. WRY a. 1, 1 b + MOUTH sb.]
† 1. (See quot. 1859.) Obs.
1661. Lovell, Hist. Anim. & Min., 29. The gall of a wild Cat is very good against the wry mouth.
1859. Mayne, Expos. Lex., 1283. Tortura,… formerly used for Spasmus, chiefly of a part, as of the face or the mouth; wry-mouth.
2. a. attrib. = WRY-MOUTHED a. 1. Also ellipt.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., VIII. lxxxiv. No wry-mouth squint-ey’d scoff can stay Their swift progression.
1655. Gayton, Bagnal’s Ghost, 3. Thick Ling and wry mouth Plaise.
1881. Paxton Hood, Christmas Evans, iv. 120.
| In every hollow dingle stood, | |
| Of wry-mouth fiends a wrathful brood. |
b. One who has a distorted mouth.
1840. Penny Cycl., XVIII. 316/1. [It] had fallen into disuse since the death of Boleslav the Wry-mouth.
3. U.S. a. One or other fish belonging to the genus Cryptacanthodes of blennioid fishes, and native to the north-western Atlantic. b. The electric ray or torpedo (Cent. Dict., 1891).
1844. Amer. Jrnl. Sci., XLVII. 60. Cryptacanthodes maculatus, Storer, Spotted Wry-mouth, Bridgeport [CT].
1890. Science, April, 212/1. The sea-raven, the rock-eel, and the wry-mouth, which inhabit these brilliant groves, are all colored to match their surroundings.
