Neck (?), n. [OE. necke, AS.
hnecca; akin to D. nek the nape of the neck, G.
nacken, OHG. nacch, hnacch, Icel. hnakki,
Sw. nacke, Dan. nakke.] 1. The
part of an animal which connects the head and the trunk, and which,
in man and many other animals, is more slender than the
trunk.
2. Any part of an inanimate object
corresponding to or resembling the neck of an animal; as:
(a) The long slender part of a vessel, as a
retort, or of a fruit, as a gourd. (b) A
long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow
tract connecting two larger tracts. (c)
(Mus.) That part of a violin, guitar, or similar
instrument, which extends from the head to the body, and on which is
the finger board or fret board.
3. (Mech.) A reduction in size near
the end of an object, formed by a groove around it; as, a neck
forming the journal of a shaft.
4. (Bot.) the point where the base of
the stem of a plant arises from the root.
Neck and crop, completely; wholly;
altogether; roughly and at once. [Colloq.] -- Neck and
neck (Racing), so nearly equal that one cannot
be said to be before the other; very close; even; side by side.
-- Neck of a capital. (Arch.) See
Gorgerin. -- Neck of a cascabel
(Gun.), the part joining the knob to the base of the
breech. -- Neck of a gun, the small part
of the piece between the chase and the swell of the muzzle. --
Neck of a tooth (Anat.), the
constriction between the root and the crown. -- Neck or
nothing (Fig.), at all risks. -- Neck
verse. (a) The verse formerly read to
entitle a party to the benefit of clergy, said to be the first verse
of the fifty-first Psalm, "Miserere mei," etc. Sir W.
Scott. (b) Hence, a verse or saying, the
utterance of which decides one's fate; a shibboleth.
These words, "bread and cheese," were their neck
verse or shibboleth to distinguish them; all pronouncing "broad
and cause," being presently put to death.
Fuller.
-- Neck yoke. (a) A bar by
which the end of the tongue of a wagon or carriage is suspended from
the collars of the harnesses. (b) A device
with projecting arms for carrying things (as buckets of water or sap)
suspended from one's shoulders. -- On the neck
of, immediately after; following closely.
"Commiting one sin on the neck of another." W. Perkins.
-- Stiff neck, obstinacy in evil or wrong;
inflexible obstinacy; contumacy. "I know thy rebellion, and thy
stiff neck." Deut. xxxi. 27. -- To break the
neck of, to destroy the main force of. "What they
presume to borrow from her sage and virtuous rules . . . breaks
the neck of their own cause." Milton. -- To harden
the neck, to grow obstinate; to be more and more
perverse and rebellious. Neh. ix. 17. -- To tread
on the neck of, to oppress; to tyrannize over.
Neck, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Necked (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Necking.] (Mech.) To reduce the diameter of (an
object) near its end, by making a groove around it; -- used with
down; as, to neck down a shaft.