/ nek; NAmE / noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] the part of the body between the head and the shoulders :
He tied a scarf around his neck.
Giraffes have very long necks.
She craned (= stretched) her neck to get a better view.
He broke his neck in the fall.
Somebody's going to break their neck (= injure themselves) on these steps.
—picture at body
2.
[ C ] the part of a piece of clothing that fits around the neck :
What neck size do you take?
—see also crew neck , polo neck , turtleneck , V-neck
3.
-necked (in adjectives) having the type of neck mentioned :
a round-necked sweater
—see also open-necked , stiff-necked
4.
[ C ] neck (of sth) a long narrow part of sth :
the neck of a bottle
a neck of land
5.
[ U ] neck (of sth) the neck of an animal, cooked and eaten :
neck of lamb
—see also bottleneck , redneck , roughneck
•
IDIOMS
- be up to your neck in sth
- by a neck
- get it in the neck
- neck and neck (with sb/sth)
- neck of the woods
—more at block noun , brass , breathe , millstone , pain noun , risk verb , save verb , scruff , stick verb , wring
■ verb
[ v ] (usually be necking ) ( old-fashioned , informal ) when two people are necking , they are kissing each other in a sexual way
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English hnecca back of the neck , of Germanic origin; related to Dutch nek neck and German Nacken nape.