neck

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English[edit]

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Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English nekke, nakke, from Old English hnecca, *hnæcca (“neck, nape”), from Proto-Germanic *hnakkô (“nape, neck”), from Proto-Indo-European *knog-, *kneg- (“back of the head, nape, neck”). Cognate with Scots nek (“neck”), North Frisian neek, neeke, Nak (“neck”), Saterland Frisian Näkke (“neck”), West Frisian nekke (“neck”), Dutch nek (“neck”), German Low German Nack (“neck”), German Nacken (“nape of the neck”), Danish nakke (“neck”), Swedish nacke (“nape of the neck”), Icelandic hnakki (“neck”), Tocharian A kñuk (“neck, nape”). Possibly a mutated variant of *kneug/k (compare Old English hnocc (“hook, penis”), Welsh cnwch (“joint, knob”), Latvian knaūķis (“dwarf”). Doublet of nek. More at nook. Displaced halse (“neck, throat”) and swire (“neck”).

A human neck.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • Audio (US)(file)
  • IPA(key): /nɛk/
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛk

Noun[edit]

neck (plural necks)

An Australasian Darter extends her long neck.
  1. (anatomy) The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.
    Giraffes have long necks.
  2. The corresponding part in some other anatomical contexts.
  3. The part of a shirt, dress etc., which fits a person's neck.
  4. The tapered part of a bottle toward the opening.
  5. (botany) The slender tubelike extension atop an archegonium, through which the sperm swim to reach the egg.
    • 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page 5:
      Archegonia are surrounded early in their development by the juvenile perianth, through the slender beak of which the elongated neck of the fertilized archegonium protrudes.
  6. (music) The extension of any stringed instrument on which a fingerboard is mounted
  7. A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts.
  8. (engineering) A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it.
    a neck forming the journal of a shaft
  9. The constriction between the root and crown of a tooth.
  10. (architecture) The gorgerin of a capital.
  11. (geology) A volcanic plug, solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano.
  12. (firearms) The small part of a gun between the chase and the swell of the muzzle.
  13. (figurative) A person's life.
    to risk one's neck; to save someone's neck
  14. (informal, MLE, slang) A falsehood; a lie.
  15. (slang) Fellatio
    • 2016, “Pimptations”, performed by Smino:
      Shorty throw neck like a geese
      She make me speak Portuguese
    • 2018, “Florida Thang”, in The South Got Something To Say, performed by Pouya:
      She drop neck for a check and a paystub
  16. (now historical) A bundle of wheat used in certain English harvest ceremonies.
    • 1837, R. A. R., The Everyday Book, page 1169:
      The person with 'the neck' stands in the centre, grasping it with both his hands
    • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 7, page 266:
      "The neck" is generally hung up in the farmhouse, where it remains for two or three years.
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
part of body connecting the head and the trunk
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

neck (third-person singular simple present necks, present participle necking, simple past and past participle necked)

  1. (transitive, slang) To hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate.
    Go neck yourself.
  2. (intransitive, informal, chiefly US) To make love; to intently kiss or cuddle; to canoodle.
    Synonyms: French kiss, grope, pet, smoodge, snog, snuggle, smooch
    Alan and Betty were necking in the back of a car when Betty's dad caught them.
    • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 326:
      Molly had been in love with Sick Boy since he necked with her in a seedy disco-bar in Leith a few weeks ago. Sick Boy had made a drunken point about HIV transmission and to illustrate it had spent most of the night french-kissing her.
  3. (transitive, slang) To drink or swallow rapidly.
    Synonym: chug
    • 2005, Stephen Price, Monkey Man, page 146:
      Actually, mostly I swan around in my silver sports car, necking drugs, and feeling sorry for myself.
    • 2006, Sarah Johnstone, Tom Masters, London:
      In the dim light, punters sit sipping raspberry-flavoured Tokyo martinis, losing the freestyle sushi off their chopsticks or necking Asahi beer.
    • 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2019:
      The 40-year-old [Mike Skinner] is happy to put his body on the line in other ways, swapping a mug of tea for a fan's double pint of lager and messily necking it in one.
  4. (intransitive) To decrease in diameter.
    • 2007, John H. Bickford, Introduction to the Design and Behavior of Bolted Joints, page 272:
      Since this temperature would place the bolt in its creep range, it will slowly stretch, necking down as it does so. Eventually it will get too thin to support the weight, and the bolt will break.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Danish nøkke, Swedish näck.

Noun[edit]

neck (plural necks)

  1. (folklore) A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.
    Synonyms: nis, nix, nixie, nixy
    • 1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 234:
      The Neck no more upon the river sings.
      And no Mermaid to bleach her linen flings
      Upon the waves in the mild solar ray.
Translations[edit]
folklore: shapeshifting water spirit — see nix

Anagrams[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English neck.

Noun[edit]

neck m (plural necks)

  1. (geology) neck (solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano)

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English neck.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

neck m

  1. (geology) neck (solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano)
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