Wry vs Rue - What's the difference?
wry | rue |
Turned away, contorted (of the face or body).
* 1837 , , The Pickwick Papers , ch. 17:
* 1913 , , The Motion Picture Chums at Seaside Park , ch. 11:
Dryly humorous; sardonic or bitterly ironic.
* 1871 , , The Haunted Baronet , ch. 6:
Twisted, bent, crooked.
Deviating from the right direction; misdirected; out of place.
* 1820 , , The Abbot , ch. 34:
* 1876 , , The Works and Life of Walter Savage Landor , vol. IV, Imaginary Conversations, Third Series: Dialogues of Literary Men, ch. 6—Milton and Andrew Marvel,
(obsolete) To turn (away); to swerve or deviate.
* 1535 , , Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation , ch. 18:
* , Cymbeline , act 5, sc. 1:
(obsolete) To divert; to cause to turn away.
To twist or contort (the body, face etc.).
(obsolete) To cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.
(archaic, or, dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.
(archaic, or, dialectal) Pity; compassion.
(obsolete) To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
(obsolete) To cause to feel sorrow or pity.
To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
* (rfdate) Chapman
* (rfdate) Milton
(archaic) To feel compassion or pity.
* Late 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales
* (rfdate) Ridley
(archaic) To feel sorrow or regret.
* (rfdate) Tennyson
Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta , especially the herb , formerly used in medicines.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.2:
* c. 1600 , (William Shakespeare), , (Ophelia):
As an adjective wry
is turned away, contorted (of the face or body).As a verb wry
is (obsolete|intransitive) to turn (away); to swerve or deviate or wry can be (obsolete) to cover; clothe; cover up; cloak; hide.As a noun rue is
.wry
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) wrien, from (etyl) . Compare awry, wriggle.Adjective
(en-adj)- '"Why, you snivelling, wry -faced, puny villain," gasped old Lobbs.
- “Humph! Had to,” said Pep with a wry grimace.
- "[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."
- Catherine hath made a wry stitch in her broidery, when she was thinking of something else than her work.
p. 155 (Google preview):
- . . . the wry rigour of our neighbours, who never take up an old idea without some extravagance in its application.
Derived terms
* wryly * awryVerb
- 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.
- 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!
Etymology 2
From (etyl) wryen, wrien, wreon, wrihen, from (etyl) .Verb
rue
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) rewe, reowe, from (etyl) .Noun
(-)Derived terms
* rueful * ruthEtymology 2
(etyl) , from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch rouwen, German reuen.Verb
- I rued the day I crossed paths with her.
- I wept to see, and rued it from my heart.
- Thy will chose freely what it now so justly rues .
- Madame, reweth upon my peynes smerte
- which stirred men's hearts to rue upon them
- Old year, we'll dearly rue for you.
Usage notes
Most frequently used in the collocation “rue the day”.Etymology 3
(wikipedia rue) From (etyl) ruwe, (etyl) rue (> modern French rue), from (etyl) . Compare (rude).Noun
(en noun)- But th'aged Nourse, her calling to her bowre, / Had gathered Rew , and Savine, and the flowre / Of Camphora, and Calamint, and Dill [...].
- There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue''' for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays: O you must wear your ' rue with a difference.