English · Idiom Historical

a wry face

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

The features drawn awry, expressive of distaste.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Khuôn mặt bị biến dạng, thể hiện sự không thích

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “a wry face” mean?

The features drawn awry, expressive of distaste.

Is “a wry face” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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