neck
Americannoun
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necks
plural
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the part of the body of an animal or human being that connects the head and the trunk.
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the part of a garment encircling, partly covering, or closest to the neck; neckline.
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the length of the neck of a horse or other animal as a measure in racing.
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the slender part near the top of a bottle, vase, or similar object.
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any narrow, connecting, or projecting part suggesting the neck of an animal.
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a narrow strip of land, as an isthmus or a cape.
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a strait.
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the longer and more slender part of a violin or similar stringed instrument, extending from the body to the head.
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Building Trades, Machinery. the part on a shank of a bolt next to the head, especially when it has a special form.
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Anatomy. a narrowed part of a bone, organ, or the like.
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Dentistry. the slightly narrowed region of a tooth between the crown and the root.
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Printing. beard.
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Architecture. a cylindrical continuation of the shaft of a column above the lower astragal of the capital, as in the Roman Doric and Tuscan orders.
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Also called volcanic neck. Geology. the solidified lava or igneous rock filling a conduit leading either to a vent of an extinct volcano or to a laccolith.
verb (used without object)
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necks,
present (3rd person singular)
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necked,
past participle, past
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necking
present participle
verb (used with object)
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necks,
present (3rd person singular)
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necked,
past participle, past
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necking
present participle
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Informal. to embrace, kiss, and caress (someone) amorously.
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to strangle or behead.
idioms
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get it in the neck,
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to suffer punishment or loss.
The trend is to consolidation and small businesses are getting it in the neck.
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to be rejected or dismissed.
The employees got it in the neck when the company moved overseas.
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to be sharply reprimanded or scolded.
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neck of the woods, neighborhood, area, or vicinity.
Next time you're in this neck of the woods, drop in.
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stick one's neck out, to expose oneself to danger, disaster, failure, disgrace, etc.; take a risk.
He stuck his neck out by supporting an unpopular candidate.
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neck and neck, even or very close; indeterminate as to the outcome.
They were coming toward the finish line neck and neck.
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win by a neck,
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to win by a small amount or narrow margin.
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Racing. to be first by a head and neck; finish closely.
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be up to one's neck, to have a surfeit; be overburdened.
Right now she's up to her neck in work.
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break one's neck, to make a great effort.
We broke our necks to get there on time.
noun
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the part of an organism connecting the head with the rest of the body
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the part of a garment around or nearest the neck
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something resembling a neck in shape or position
the neck of a bottle
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anatomy a constricted portion of an organ or part, such as the cervix of the uterus
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a narrow or elongated projecting strip of land; a peninsula or isthmus
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a strait or channel
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the part of a violin, cello, etc, that extends from the body to the tuning pegs and supports the fingerboard
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a solid block of lava from the opening of an extinct volcano, exposed after erosion of the surrounding rock
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botany the upper, usually tubular, part of the archegonium of mosses, ferns, etc
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the length of a horse's head and neck taken as an approximate distance by which one horse beats another in a race
to win by a neck
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informal a short distance, amount, or margin
he is always a neck ahead in new techniques
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informal impudence; audacity
he had the neck to ask for a rise
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architect the narrow band at the top of the shaft of a column between the necking and the capital, esp as used in the Tuscan order
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another name for beard, on printer's type
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informal to exert oneself greatly, esp by hurrying, in order to do something
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slang (of a bottle of beer) served unpoured
give me two bottles of stout by the neck
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informal to be reprimanded or punished severely
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absolutely level or even in a race or competition
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informal an area or locality
a quiet neck of the woods
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to take a great risk
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informal
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to escape from a difficult or dangerous situation
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to help someone else escape from such a situation
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informal to risk criticism, ridicule, failure, etc, by speaking one's mind
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deeply involved in
he's up to his neck in dodgy dealings
verb
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informal (intr) to kiss, embrace, or fondle someone or one another passionately
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informal (tr) to swallow (something, esp a drink)
he's been necking pints all night
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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necksimple
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neckssimple
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have neckedperfect
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has neckedperfect
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am neckingprogressive
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are neckingprogressive
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is neckingprogressive
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have been neckingperfect progressive
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has been neckingperfect progressive
Past
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neckedsimple
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had neckedperfect
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was neckingprogressive
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were neckingprogressive
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had been neckingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of neck
before 900; Middle English nekke, Old English hnecca, cognate with Dutch nek nape of neck; akin to German Nacken, Old Norse hnakki nape of neck
Explanation
Your neck is the part of your body that connects your head and your shoulders. Your neck, with help from your spine, supports the weight of your head. It's also thanks to your neck that you can turn your head in all directions (except, of course, directly behind you). Your sweaters and t-shirts have necks too, the holes meant for your head and neck to slide through. In geography, a neck is a long, thin peninsula, a stretch of land that looks neck-like on a map. And to neck is to kiss amorously.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Sutherland told the coroner he was not aware of any religious practices or midwifery techniques from the time which would have involved the tying of string around a child's neck.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
For everyone else they can turn into a pain in the neck, or worse.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
At his Sept. 3 arraignment, Lawantara’s attorney Debra White said that, after a verbal altercation escalated, Voskanyan reached for her client’s neck, according to reporting from the California Post.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Risk/reward looks more constructive to Stanton, who now includes Immutep’s phase IIhead and neck squamous cell carcinoma opportunity in his valuation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
I scratch his neck and he flops over on his back, tongue hanging out.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
At the university, shelves groan with jagged pieces of spines, necks and legs that to an untrained eye resemble battered stones.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
They wore fliers around their necks, hung with yellow thread, bearing the smiling faces and names of some of the 75 people who have died since January 2025.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
A CT scan revealed that the dinosaur belonged to the Mamenchisauridae family of sauropod dinosaurs, characterised by their extremely long necks, which likely helped them reach vegetation at different heights.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
Fans craned their necks for any views they could get from the street.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
Humankind paid for its lofty vision and industrious hands with backaches and stiff necks.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Nearby were partial skeletons of long necked dinosaurs preserved in river sediments, pointing to a forested inland environment crisscrossed by waterways.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 23, 2026
The dinosaurs included carnivorous megalosaurs - ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex - and long necked herbivores that were up to three times bigger in size than an elephant.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2025
Long necked animals, such as giraffes, need to pump blood upward from the heart against gravity.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Mike McNerney of Carbondale, Illinois, an authority on necked discoids, believes they are a corruption of the classic Celtic cross, with the ends of the cross being dropped from the design.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 1, 2015
The one who remained was in his seventies, but tall and bull necked and powerful.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
This dramatic difference points to a process known as "necking."
From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2026
"I can imagine the rubber necking that is going to happen."
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2023
Instead of dancing and necking and maybe even performing for the hippies in Haight-Ashbury, Elvis Presley had spent an endless seven years in Southern California, forsaking his music career for one on the silver screen.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 15, 2018
Basically middle-aged music nerds in plastic glasses necking $8 beers, with a few kids to spike the energy and enthusiasm.
From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2017
Who wouldn’t be appalled to find her brother and his girlfriend necking in her brand-new house, in the prize bathroom of all places?
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
