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Neck

//nɛk// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun

1
The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.
"Giraffes have long necks."
2
A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.
"The Neck no more upon the river sings. And no Mermaid to bleach her linen flings Upon the waves in the mild solar ray."
3
an opening in a garment for the neck of the wearer; a part of the garment near the wearer's neck wordnet
4
The corresponding part in some other anatomical contexts.
5
a narrow part of an artifact that resembles a neck in position or form wordnet

Show 17 more definitions

6
The part of a shirt, dress etc., which fits a person's neck.
7
the part of an organism (human or animal) that connects the head to the rest of the body wordnet
8
The tapered part of a bottle toward the opening.
9
a cut of meat from the neck of an animal wordnet
10
The slender tubelike extension atop an archegonium, through which the sperm swim to reach the egg.
"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."
11
a narrow elongated projecting strip of land wordnet
12
The extension of any stringed instrument on which a fingerboard is mounted
13
A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts.
14
A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it.
"a neck forming the journal of a shaft"
15
The constriction between the root and crown of a tooth.
16
The gorgerin of a capital.
17
A volcanic plug, solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano.
18
The small part of a gun between the chase and the swell of the muzzle.
19
A person's life. figuratively
"to risk one's neck; to save someone's neck"
20
A falsehood; a lie. Multicultural-London-English, informal, slang
21
Fellatio slang
"Shorty throw neck like a geese She make me speak Portuguese"
22
A bundle of wheat used in certain English harvest ceremonies. historical
"The person with 'the neck' stands in the centre, grasping it with both his hands"

Verb

1
To hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate. slang, transitive
"Go neck yourself."
2
kiss, embrace, or fondle with sexual passion wordnet
3
To intently kiss or cuddle; to canoodle. US, informal, intransitive
"Alan and Betty were necking in the back of a car when Betty's dad caught them."
4
To drink or swallow rapidly. slang, transitive
"Actually, mostly I swan around in my silver sports car, necking drugs, and feeling sorry for myself."
5
To decrease in diameter. intransitive
"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."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Danish nøkke, Swedish näck.

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