Part of speech: noun1 [C] the part of the body between the head and the shoulders:
He tied a scarf around his neck. * I woke up with a stiff 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.
2 [C] the part of a piece of clothing that fits around the neck:
What neck size do you take?
seealsoCREWNECK, POLONECK, TURTLENECK, V-NECK
3 -necked (in adjectives) having the type of neck mentioned:
a round-necked sweater
seealsoOPEN-NECKED, STIFF-NECKED
4 [C] ~ (of sth) a long narrow part of sth:
the neck of a bottle * a neck of land
5 [U] ~ (of sth) the neck of an animal, cooked and eaten:
neck of lamb
seealsoBOTTLENECK, REDNECK, ROUGHNECK
IDIOMS
be up to your neck in sth to have a lot of sth to deal with:
We're up to our neck in debt. * He's in it (= trouble) up to his neck.
by a neck if a person or an animal wins a race by a neck, they win it by a short distance
get it in the neck (BrE, informal) to be shouted at or punished because of sth that you have done
neck and neck (with sb/sth) (also nip and tuck )with sb( especially in AmE) level with sb in a race or competition:
The cyclists were neck and neck as they approached the final lap.
neck of the woods (informal) a particular place or area:
He's from your neck of the woods (= the area where you live). * What are you doing in this neck of the woods?
moreatBLOCKn., BRASS, BREATHE, MILLSTONE, PAINn., RISKv., SAVEv., SCRUFF, STICKv., WRING
verb [V] (usually be necking) (old-fashioned, informal) when two people are necking, they are kissing each other in a sexual way
