n. [ OE. avouerie protection, authority, OF. avouerie. See Avow to declare. ] 1. An advocate; a patron; a patron saint. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Let God alone be our avowry. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of the distrainer of goods, who, in an action of replevin, avows and justifies the taking in his own right. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When an action of replevin is brought, the distrainer either makes avowry, that is, avours taking the distress in his own right, or the right of his wife, and states the reason if it, as for arrears of rent, damage done, or the like; or makes cognizance, that is, acknowledges the taking, but justifies in an another's right, as his bailiff or servant. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. & a. [ Pref. a- + wry. ] 1. Turned or twisted toward one side; not in a straight or true direction, or position; out of the right course; distorted; obliquely; asquint; with oblique vision; as, to glance awry. “Your crown's awry.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blows them transverse, ten thousand leagues awry.
Into the devious air. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Aside from the line of truth, or right reason; unreasonable or unreasonably; perverse or perversely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Or by her charms
Draws him awry, enslaved. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nothing more awry from the law of God and nature than that a woman should give laws to men. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Hind. chaunri. ] A whisk to keep off files, used in the East Indies. Malcom. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n.; pl. Cowries [ Hind. kaurī. ] (Zool.) A marine shell of the genus Cypræa. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ There are numerous species, many of them ornamental. Formerly Cypræa moneta and several other species were largely used as money in Africa and some other countries, and they are still so used to some extent. The value is always trifling, and varies at different places. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Dowries [ Contr. from dowery; cf. LL. dotarium. See Dower. ] 1. A gift; endowment. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The money, goods, or estate, which a woman brings to her husband in marriage; a bride's portion on her marriage. See Note under Dower. Shak. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A gift or presents for the bride, on espousal. See Dower. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give . . .; but give me the damsel to wife. Gen. xxxiv. 12. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ n. [ From Ewer. ] An office or place of household service where the ewers were formerly kept. [ Enq. ] Parker. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. Jewerie, OF. Juierie, F. Juiverie. ] 1. Judea; also, a district inhabited by Jews; a Jews' quarter. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Teaching throughout all Jewry. Luke xxiii. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Jewish people, collectively. [ PJC ]

n. An open box car used on railroads. Compare Lorry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Outlawries 1. The act of outlawing; the putting a man out of the protection of law, or the process by which a man (as an absconding criminal) is deprived of that protection. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being an outlaw. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Defiance of the law; habitual criminality. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ AS. wreón. ] To cover. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Wrie you in that mantle. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Wrier superl. Wriest. ] [ Akin to OE. wrien to twist, to bend, AS. wrigian to tend towards, to drive. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Turned to one side; twisted; distorted; as, a wry mouth. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Wrested; perverted. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

Wry face, a distortion of the countenance indicating impatience, disgust, or discomfort; a grimace. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To twist; to writhe; to bend or wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Wried; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrying. ] [ 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. R. Browning. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Crookbill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Any one of several species of large, elongated, marine fishes of the genus Cryptacanthodes, especially Cryptacanthodes maculatus of the American coast. A whitish variety is called ghostfish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A twisted or distorted neck; a deformity in which the neck is drawn to one side by a rigid contraction of one of the muscles of the neck; torticollis. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a person suffering from torticollis. [ PJC ]

3. (Zool.) Any one of several species of Old World birds of the genus Jynx or subfamily Jynginae, allied to the woodpeckers; especially, the common European species (Jynx torguilla); -- so called from its habit of turning the neck around in different directions. Called also cuckoo's mate, snakebird, summer bird, tonguebird, and writheneck. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

a. Having a distorted neck; having the deformity called wryneck{ 1 }. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being wry, or distorted. W. Montagu. [ 1913 Webster ]

obs. p. p. of Writhe. Writhen. [ 1913 Webster ]