neck
Meanings
- The part of the body connecting the head and the trunk found in humans and some animals.
- The corresponding part in some other anatomical contexts.
- The part of a shirt, dress etc., which fits a person's neck.
- The tapered part of a bottle toward the opening.
- The slender tubelike extension atop an archegonium, through which the sperm swim to reach the egg.
- The extension of any stringed instrument on which a fingerboard is mounted
- A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts.
- A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it.
- The constriction between the root and crown of a tooth.
- The gorgerin of a capital.
- A volcanic plug, solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano.
- The small part of a gun between the chase and the swell of the muzzle.
- To hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate.
- To intently kiss or cuddle; to canoodle.
- To drink or swallow rapidly.
- To decrease in diameter.
- A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English nekke, nakke, from Old English hnecca, *hnæcca (“neck, nape”), from Proto-Germanic *hnakkô (“nape, neck”), from Proto-Indo-European *knog-, *kneg- (“back of the head, nape, neck”). Cognate with Scots nek (“neck”), North Frisian neek, neeke, Nak (“neck”), Saterland Frisian Näkke (“neck”), West Frisian nekke (“neck”), Dutch nek (“neck”), German Low German Nack (“neck”), German Nacken (“nape of the neck”), Danish nakke (“neck”), Swedish nacke (“nape of the neck”), Icelandic hnakki (“neck”), Tocharian A kñuk (“neck, nape”). Possibly a mutated variant of *kneug/k (compare Old English hnocc (“hook, penis”), Welsh cnwch (“joint, knob”), Latvian knaūķis (“dwarf”). Doublet of nek. More at nook. Displaced halse (“neck, throat”) and swire (“neck”).