From Middle English nekke, nakke, from Old English hnecca, *hnæcca (“neck, nape”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnakkō, 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”).
Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.
Giraffes have long necks.
Mother, help me, there's a head attached to my neck and I'm in it.2019 October 15, ZA/UM, Robert Kurvitz, quoting You, Disco Elysium, →OCLC:
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The corresponding part in some other anatomical contexts.
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The part of a shirt, dress etc., which fits a person's neck.
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The tapered part of a bottle toward the opening.
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Biology, Botany, Natural sciences 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.1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 5:
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music The extension of any stringed instrument on which a fingerboard is mounted
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A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts.
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Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it.
a neck forming the journal of a shaft
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The constriction between the root and crown of a tooth.
Shorty throw neck like a geese She make me speak Portuguese2016, “Pimptations”, performed by Smino:
She drop neck for a check and a paystub2018, “Florida Thang”, in The South Got Something To Say, performed by Pouya:
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Historical A bundle of wheat used in certain English harvest ceremonies.
The person with 'the neck' stands in the centre, grasping it with both his hands1837, R. A. R., The Everyday Book, page 1169:
"The neck" is generally hung up in the farmhouse, where it remains for two or three years.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 7, page 266:
From Middle English nekke, nakke, from Old English hnecca, *hnæcca (“neck, nape”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnakkō, 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”).
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Slang To hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate.
Go neck yourself.
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US, Informal To intently kiss or cuddle; to canoodle.
Alan and Betty were necking in the back of a car when Betty's dad caught them.
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.1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 326:
Actually, mostly I swan around in my silver sports car, necking drugs, and feeling sorry for myself.2005, Stephen Price, Monkey Man, page 146:
In the dim light, punters sit sipping raspberry-flavoured Tokyo martinis, losing the freestyle sushi off their chopsticks or necking Asahi beer.2006, Sarah Johnstone, Tom Masters, London:
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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.2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Apr 2019:
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To decrease in diameter.
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.2007, John H. Bickford, Introduction to the Design and Behavior of Bolted Joints, page 272:
The Neck no more upon the river sings. And no Mermaid to bleach her linen flings Upon the waves in the mild solar ray.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 234:
The beautiful Nix or Nixie who allures the young fisher or hunter to seek her embraces in the wave which brings his death, the Neck who seizes upon and drowns the maidens who sport upon his banks, the river-spirit who still yearly in some parts of Germany demands tribute of human life, are all forms of the ancient Nicor[.]1876, John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England: A History of the English Commonwealth Till the Period of the Norman Conquest, volume I, London: Bernard Quaritch, page 391: