Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - neck

(necks, necking, necked) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Your neck is the part of your body which joins your head to the rest of your body. She threw her arms round his neck and hugged him warmly... He was short and stocky, and had a thick neck. N-COUNT: usu poss N 2. The neck of an article of clothing such as a shirt, dress, or sweater is the part which surrounds your neck. ...the low, ruffled neck of her blouse... He wore a blue shirt open at the neck. N-COUNT: usu sing 3. The neck of something such as a bottle or a guitar is the long narrow part at one end of it. Catherine gripped the broken neck of the bottle. N-COUNT: usu the N of n 4. If two people are necking, they are kissing each other in a sexual way. (INFORMAL) They sat talking and necking in the car for another ten minutes... I found myself behind a curtain, necking with my best friend’s wife. = snog V-RECIP: usu cont, pl-n V, V with n, also V n (non-recip) 5. If you say that someone is breathing down your neck, you mean that they are watching you very closely and checking everything you do. Most farmers have bank managers breathing down their necks. PHRASE: V and N inflect 6. In a competition, especially an election, if two or more competitors are neck and neck, they are level with each other and have an equal chance of winning. The latest polls indicate that the two main parties are neck and neck... The party is running neck-and-neck with Labour. PHRASE: usu v-link PHR, oft PHR with n 7. If you say that someone is risking their neck, you mean they are doing something very dangerous, often in order to achieve something. I won’t have him risking his neck on that motorcycle. PHRASE: V and N inflect 8. If you stick your neck out, you bravely say or do something that might be criticized or might turn out to be wrong. (INFORMAL) During my political life I’ve earned myself a reputation as someone who’ll stick his neck out, a bit of a rebel. PHRASE: V and N inflect 9. If you say that someone is in some sort of trouble or criminal activity up to their neck, you mean that they are deeply involved in it. (INFORMAL) He is probably up to his neck in debt. PHRASE: N inflects 10. Someone or something that is from your neck of the woods is from the same part of the country as you are. (INFORMAL) It’s so good to see you. What brings you to this neck of the woods? PHRASE: usu in PHR 11. to have a millstone round your neck: see millstone the scruff of your neck: see scruff