Neck Definition

nĕk

necked, necking, necks

noun

necks

That part of a human or animal joining the head to the body, including the part of the backbone between the skull and the shoulders.

Webster's New World

A narrow or constricted part of a structure, as of a bone or an organ, that joins its parts; a cervix.

American Heritage Medicine

The narrowest part of any object, considered to be like a neck.

Webster's New World

That part of a garment which covers, encircles, or is nearest the neck.

Webster's New World

The narrow part along which the strings of an instrument extend to the pegs.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
collar line
neckline
neckband
cervix
neck opening
nape
scruff
strait
isthmus
collar
cape
by a nose
by a hair
barely
by a close margin

verb

necked, necking

To engage in amorous kissing, hugging, and caressing.

Webster's New World

To kiss and caress amorously.

American Heritage

To strangle or decapitate (a fowl).

American Heritage

To drink rapidly.

Wiktionary

To decrease in diameter.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

idiom

neck and neck

So close that the lead between competitors is virtually indeterminable.

American Heritage

up to (one's) neck

Deeply involved or occupied fully:
I'm up to my neck in paperwork.

American Heritage

break one's neck

to try very hard

Webster's New World

get it in the neck

to be severely reprimanded or punished

Webster's New World

neck and crop

completely; entirely

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Neck

Noun

Singular:

neck

Plural:

necks

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Neck

Origin of Neck

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 Näcke (“neck"), West Frisian nekke (“neck"), Dutch nek (“neck"), Low German Nakke (“neck"), German Nacken (“nape of the neck"), Danish nakke (“neck"), Swedish nacke (“neck"), Icelandic hnakki (“neck"), Tocharian A kñuk (“neck, nape"). Possibly a mutated variant of *kneug/k (cf. Old English hnocc 'hook, penis', Welsh cnwch 'joint, knob', Latvian knaÅ«Ä·is 'dwarf', Ancient Greek knychóō 'to draw together'). More at nook.

From Wiktionary
Middle English nekke from Old English hnecca

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition