different between wry vs icy

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?
• Homophone: rye

Etymology 1

From Middle English wrien, from Old English wr??ian (“to go, turn, twist, bend, strive, struggle, press forward, endeavor, venture”), from Proto-Germanic *wrig?n? (“to wriggle”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey?- (“to turn, wrap, tie”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”). Compare awry, wriggle.

Adjective

wry (comparative wrier or wryer, superlative wriest or wryest)

1. Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
   • 1837, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, chapter 17:

     '"Why, you snivelling, wry-faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.

   • 1913, Victor Appleton, The Motion Picture Chums at Seaside Park, chapter 11:

     “Humph! Had to,” said Pep with a wry grimace.

2. Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
   • 1871, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, The Haunted Baronet, chapter 6:

     "[T]he master says a wry word now and then; and so ye let your spirits go down, don't ye see, and all sorts o' fancies comes into your head."

3. Twisted, bent, crooked.
4. Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
   • 1820, Sir Walter Scott, The Abbot, chapter 34:

     Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.

   • 1876, Walter Savage Landor, The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor, volume IV, Imaginary Conversations, Third Series: Dialogues of Literary Men, ch. 6—Milton and Andrew Marvel, page 155 (Google preview):

     . . . the wry rigour of our neighbours, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application.

Derived terms

• awry
• wryly
• go awry

Translations

Verb

wry (third-person singular simple present wries, present participle wrying, simple past and past participle wried)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
   • 1535, Thomas More, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, ch. 18:

     God pricketh them of his great goodness still. And the grief of this great pang pincheth them at the heart, and of wickedness they wry away.

   • c. 1610, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act 5, scene 1:

     You married ones,

     If each of you should take this course, how many

     Must murder wives much better than themselves

     For wrying but a little!

2. (obsolete, transitive) To divert; to cause to turn away.
3. (transitive) To twist or contort (the body, face, etc.).

Translations

Noun

wry

1. (regional) Distortion.

Etymology 2

From Middle English wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from Old English wr?on (“to cover, clothe, envelop, conceal, hide, protect, defend”), from Proto-Germanic *wr?han? (“to wrap, cover”), from Proto-Indo-European *wrey?- (“to turn, wrap, tie”), from *wer- (“to turn, bend”).

Verb

wry (third-person singular simple present wries, present participle wrying, simple past and past participle wried)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.

English

Alternative forms

• icey (rare)
• ycie (obsolete)

Etymology

ice +? -y; cf. Old English ?si?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?si/

Adjective

icy (comparative icier, superlative iciest)

1. Pertaining to, resembling, or abounding in ice; cold; frosty.
2. Covered with ice, wholly or partially.
3. Characterized by coldness of manner; frigid; cold.
   • 2009, Sharon Kendrick, The Desert Princes Bundle: The Sheikh's English Bride

     Gone was the gleam of desire, and the teasingly provocative remarks, and Alexa realised the truth in the saying that indifference was death. His demeanour was haughty and icy towards her.

4. (US, slang) To be wearing an excessive amount of jewelry, especially of the high-quality and expensive kind.

Related terms

• icily
• iciness

Translations

References

• icy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• icy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• CyI

Middle French

Adverb

icy

1. here

Descendants

• French: ici