English Online Dictionary. What means neck? What does neck mean?
English
Etymology 1
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”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nɛk/
- Rhymes: -ɛk
Noun
neck (plural necks)
- (anatomy) 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.
- (botany) The slender tubelike extension atop an archegonium, through which the sperm swim to reach the egg.
- (music) 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.
- (engineering) A reduction in size near the end of an object, formed by a groove around it.
- a neck forming the journal of a shaft
- The constriction between the root and crown of a tooth.
- (architecture) The gorgerin of a capital.
- (geology) A volcanic plug, solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano.
- (firearms) The small part of a gun between the chase and the swell of the muzzle.
- (figurative) A person's life.
- to risk one's neck; to save someone's neck
- (informal, MLE, slang) A falsehood; a lie.
- (slang) Fellatio
- (now historical) A bundle of wheat used in certain English harvest ceremonies.
Synonyms
- cervix, collum
Derived terms
Translations
See also
- throat
Verb
neck (third-person singular simple present necks, present participle necking, simple past and past participle necked)
- (transitive, slang) To hang by the neck; strangle; kill, eliminate.
- (intransitive, informal, chiefly US) To make love; to intently kiss or cuddle; to canoodle.
- Synonyms: French kiss, grope, pet, smoodge, snog, snuggle, smooch
- (transitive, slang) To drink or swallow rapidly.
- Synonym: chug
- (intransitive) To decrease in diameter.
Derived terms
- necking
Translations
Etymology 2
From Danish nøkke, Swedish näck.
Noun
neck (plural necks)
- (folklore) A shapeshifting water spirit in Germanic mythology and folklore; a nix.
- Synonyms: nis, nix, nixie, nixy
Translations
Anagrams
- Enck
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English neck.
Noun
neck m (plural necks)
- (geology) neck (solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano)
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English neck.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈnɛk/
- Rhymes: -ɛk
Noun
neck m
- (geology) neck (solidified lava filling the vent of an extinct volcano)