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Neck and neck   /nɛk ənd nɛk/   Listen
noun
Neck  n.  
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.
(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."
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; on the heel of. "Committing one sin on the neck of another."
Stiff neck, obstinacy in evil or wrong; inflexible obstinacy; contumacy. "I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck."
To break the neck of, to destroy the main force of; to break the back of. "What they presume to borrow from her sage and virtuous rules... breaks the neck of their own cause."
To harden the neck, to grow obstinate; to be more and more perverse and rebellious.
To tread on the neck of, to oppress; to tyrannize over.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Neck and neck" Quotes from Famous Books



... a long tale short, the drum ruffed, and off set four of them, a black one, and a white one, and a brown one, and the man's one, neck and neck, as neat as you like. The race course was along the high-road; and, dog on it, they made a noise like thunder, throwing out their big heavy feet behind them, and whisking their tails from side to side as if they would have dung out one another's ...
— The Life of Mansie Wauch - Tailor in Dalkeith, written by himself • David Macbeth Moir
... a moment under the mask of anonymity which he chose to assume. This was just before the outburst of the great school of Victorian novelists; Bulwer had as yet practically no one but Disraeli to compete with. These two, the author of Pelham and the author of Vivian Grey, raced neck and neck at the head of the vast horde of "fashionable" novel-writers; now all but them forgotten. In Bulwer-Lytton's romances the reader moved among exalted personages, alternately flippant and sinister; a "mournful enthusiasm" was claimed for the ...
— Some Diversions of a Man of Letters • Edmund William Gosse
... along single file in the narrow trail until they emerged into the open. Then Banneker's horse moved forward, neck and neck with the other. Miss Van Arsdale reined down ...
— Success - A Novel • Samuel Hopkins Adams
... with the forefingers only extended and pointing forward side by side with the palms down, before the body; then push them alternately backward and forward, in imitation of the movement of horses who are running "neck and neck." (Ute I; Apache ...
— Sign Language Among North American Indians Compared With That Among Other Peoples And Deaf-Mutes • Garrick Mallery
... she was ill at ease. I told her to sit further back, but as she would have had to lean on me, I did not urge her; it would have been rather a dangerous situation to begin with. Moreau sat at the back of the carriage, Clairmont went on in front, and we were thus neck and neck, or rather neck and ...
— The Memoires of Casanova, Complete • Jacques Casanova de Seingalt


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