Neck

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Neck, n. [OE. necke, AS. hnecca; akin to D. nek the nape of the neck, G. nacken, OHG. nacch, hnacch, Icel. hnakki, Sw. nacke, Dan. nakke.].

•  The part of an animal which connects the head and the trunk, and which, in man and many other animals, is more slender than the trunk.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any part of an inanimate object corresponding to or resembling the neck of an animal  [1913 Webster]
•  A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it; as, a neck forming the journal of a shaft.  [1913 Webster]
•  the point where the base of the stem of a plant arises from the root.  [1913 Webster]

Neck and crop, completely; wholly; altogether; roughly and at once. [Colloq.] -- Neck and neck (Racing), so nearly equal that one cannot be said to be before the other; very close; even; side by side. -- Neck of a capital. (Arch.) See Gorgerin. -- Neck of a cascabel (Gun.), the part joining the knob to the base of the breech. -- Neck of a gun, the small part of the piece between the chase and the swell of the muzzle. -- Neck of a tooth (Anat.), the constriction between the root and the crown. -- Neck or nothing (Fig.), at all risks. -- Neck verse. (a) The verse formerly read to entitle a party to the benefit of clergy, said to be the first verse of the fifty-first Psalm, “Miserere mei,” etc. Sir W. Scott. (b) Hence, a verse or saying, the utterance of which decides one's fate; a shibboleth.
These words, “bread and cheese,” were their neck verse or shibboleth to distinguish them; all pronouncing “broad and cause,” being presently put to death. Fuller.
Neck yoke. (a) A bar by which the end of the tongue of a wagon or carriage is suspended from the collars of the harnesses. (b) A device with projecting arms for carrying things (as buckets of water or sap) suspended from one's shoulders. -- On the neck of, immediately after; following closely; on the heel of. “Committing one sin on the neck of another.” W. Perkins. -- Stiff neck, obstinacy in evil or wrong; inflexible obstinacy; contumacy. “I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck.” Deut. xxxi. 27. -- To break the neck of, to destroy the main force of; to break the back of. “What they presume to borrow from her sage and virtuous rules . . . breaks the neck of their own cause.” Milton. -- To harden the neck, to grow obstinate; to be more and more perverse and rebellious. Neh. ix. 17. -- To tread on the neck of, to oppress; to tyrannize over.

Neck, v. t. 

 To reduce the diameter of (an object) near its end, by making a groove around it; -- used with down; as, to neck down a shaft.  [1913 Webster]

Neck, v. i. 

 To kiss and caress amorously.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Neck, n. & v.
--n.
1 a the part of the body connecting the head to the shoulders. b the part of a shirt, dress, etc. round or close to the neck.
2 a something resembling a neck, such as the narrow part of a cavity or vessel, a passage, channel, pass, isthmus, etc. b the narrow part of a bottle near the mouth.
3 the part of a violin etc. bearing the finger-board.
4 the length of a horse's head and neck as a measure of its lead in a race.
5 the flesh of an animal's neck (neck of lamb).
6 Geol. solidified lava or igneous rock in an old volcano crater or pipe.
7 Archit. the lower part of a capital.
8 sl. impudence (you've got a neck, asking that).
--v.
1 intr. & tr. colloq. kiss and caress amorously.
2 a tr. form a narrowed part in. b intr. form a narrowed part.

Idiom

get it in the neck colloq.
1 receive a severe reprimand or punishment.
2 suffer a fatal or severe blow. neck and neck running level in a race etc. neck of the woods colloq. a usu. remote locality. neck or nothing risking everything on success. up to one's neck (often foll. by in) colloq. very deeply involved; very busy.

Derivative

necked adj. (also in comb.). necker n. (in sense 1 of v.). neckless adj.

Etymology

OE hnecca ult. f. Gmc

THESAURUS

Neck

abbreviation, advocate, alpenstock, and quarter, ankle, arm, articulation, astriction, astringency, athletic supporter, back, backbone, backing, bandeau, bearer, bill and coo, bottleneck, boundary, bra, brace, bracer, bracket, brassiere, breast, butt, buttress, canal, cane, carrier, cervix, channel, chicken foot, circumscription, clinch, closure, coarctation, compactedness, compaction, compression, compressure, concentration, condensation, connecting link, connecting rod, connection, consolidation, constriction, constringency, contraction, contracture, copulate, corset, coupling, crook, crutch, curtailment, dally, dark meat, decapitate, decollate, decrease, defile, diminuendo, dovetail, draw, drumstick, elbow, embrace, foundation garment, fulcrum, gibbet, giblets, girdle, gliding joint, guillotine, guy, guywire, hang, head, hinge, hinged joint, hip, hourglass, hourglass figure, interface, isthmus, jock, jockstrap, join, joining, joint, juncture, knee, knitting, knuckle, leg, link, lollygag, lynch, mainstay, maintainer, make love, make out, mast, miter, mortise, narrow, narrow place, narrowing, narrows, noose, oyster, pass, pet, pivot, pivot joint, prop, puckering, pursing, rabbet, reduction, reinforce, reinforcement, reinforcer, rest, resting place, rigging, scarf, scrag, seam, shortening, shoulder, shroud, smooch, solidification, spine, spoon, sprit, staff, standing rigging, stave, stay, stick, stiffener, stitch, strait, stranglement, strangulation, strengthener, stretch, striction, stricture, string up, support, supporter, sustainer, suture, sweet-talk, symphysis, systole, thigh, throat, tie rod, toggle, toggle joint, toy, trifle, turkey foot, union, upholder, walking stick, wanton, wasp waist, weld, whisper sweet nothings, white meat, wing, wishbone, wrinkling, wrist

ROGET THESAURUS

Neck

Contraction

N contraction, reduction, diminution, decrease of size, defalcation, decrement, lessening, shrinking, compaction, tabes, collapse, emaciation, attenuation, tabefaction, consumption, marasmus, atrophy, systole, neck, hourglass, condensation, compression, compactness, compendium, squeezing, strangulation, corrugation, astringency, astringents, sclerotics, contractility, compressibility, coarctation, inferiority in size, contracting, astringent, shrunk, contracted, strangulated, tabid, wizened, stunted, waning, neap, compact, unexpanded &c (expand), contractile, compressible, smaller &c (small).

Thinness

N narrowness, thinness, narrowness, closeness, exility, exiguity, line, hair's breadth, finger's breadth, strip, streak, vein, monolayer, epitaxial deposition, thinness, tenuity, emaciation, macilency, marcor, shaving, slip, thread paper, skeleton, shadow, anatomy, spindleshanks, lantern jaws, mere skin and bone, middle constriction, stricture, neck, waist, isthmus, wasp, hourglass, ridge, ghaut, ghat, pass, ravine, narrowing, coarctation, angustation, tapering, contraction, narrow, close, slender, thin, fine, thread-like, finespun, gossamer, paper-thin, taper, slim, slight-made, scant, scanty, spare, delicate, incapacious, contracted, unexpanded &c (expand), slender as a thread, emaciated, lean, meager, gaunt, macilent, lank, lanky, weedy, skinny, scrawny slinky, starved, starveling, herring gutted, worn to a shadow, lean as a rake, thin as a lath, thin as a whipping post, thin as a wafer, hatchet-faced, lantern-jawed, attenuated, shriveled, extenuated, tabid, marcid, barebone, rawboned, monomolecular.