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Neck and neck   /nɛk ənd nɛk/   Listen
Neck and neck

adjective
1.
Inconclusive as to outcome; close or just even in a race or comparison or competition.  Synonyms: head-to-head, nip and tuck.  "The election was a nip and tuck affair"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Neck and neck" Quotes from Famous Books



... the coach was the husband of the brunette matron, and, proceeding under instructions, he waited neither for luggage nor women folk, but hurried straight into the Tutt House. The other man would have been neck and neck with him in the race, if it had not been that he paused to seize two suitcases and had the misfortune to drop one, which burst open and scattered a choice assortment of lingerie from one end of the dingy ...
— The Best American Humorous Short Stories • Various

... start, but the Storbuk was warming to his work—striding evenly, swiftly, faster yet, as Sveggum cried in encouragement: "Ho, Storbuk! good Storbuk!" or talked to him only with a gentle rein. At the turning-point the pair were neck and neck; then the Pony—though well driven and well shod-slipped on the ice, and thenceforth held back as though in fear, so the Storbuk steamed away. The Pony and his driver were far behind when a roar from every human throat in Filefjeld told that the Storbuk had passed the wire ...
— Animal Heroes • Ernest Thompson Seton

... was determined by other hands than his. An incautious whisperer hazarded the paralyzing suggestion of our "meeting another team." To our great astonishment Bill overheard it; to our greater astonishment he replied. "It 'ud be only a neck and neck race which would get to h-ll first," he said quietly. But we were relieved—for he had SPOKEN! Almost simultaneously the wider turnpike began to glimmer faintly as a visible track before us; the wayside trees fell out of line, opened up, and dropped off one after ...
— A Protegee of Jack Hamlin's and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... the morning to see the start for Mountain City. They found the ranch deserted, except for Mary, who pleaded a sick headache and refused to talk. Inez had no such reticence, however, and at the post-office that night Judith's troubles ran neck and neck in popular interest with Little Marion's. Both situations were of a nature to appeal to Lost Chief's sense of humor. Douglas appeared during the session and learned that Charleton's ...
— Judith of the Godless Valley • Honore Willsie

... poles and tipis riven, Vanished like swan's-down by a tempest driven. Stung by our flight, the keen air smote us sore As ragged hailstones; on, still on, we strained, And fast and faster on the chase we gained, But neck and neck the fierce pursuit remained, Till close ahead we saw the rocky walls O'er which the mighty river plunging falls,[9] And at their base the Water-Demons lay: The panting chase at last had turned to bay. Then thrilled my nerves with more than mortal strength; A breath of Deity ...
— Indian Legends of Minnesota • Various

... Neck and neck they dashed through the darkness, and did not pull up until, panting and spent, they had reached the little cottage by the river. Young Lee, limp and dripping like a broken water-plant, was stretched upon the sofa, the green scum of the river upon his black hair, ...
— Round the Red Lamp - Being Facts and Fancies of Medical Life • Arthur Conan Doyle

... ride across country At the break of an autumn day: Young Hilton, the son of the Squire, And I, sir. They started away And came through the first field together, Then leaped the first fence neck and neck; On, on again, riding like mad, sir, Jumping all without hinder or check. In this, the last field 'fore the finish, You could save half a minute or more By leaping the stone wall and brooklet; But never, sir, ...
— Successful Recitations • Various

... Neck and neck, however, in came the Josefa, staggering right through the narrow channel once more, persecuted by the Antonio, with the white breakers foaming and flashing close to on each side of her, but by this time ...
— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott

... the time we had reached Westbury's and started up the next hill I had made up my mind to sell her—to give her away—to drive her off the premises. Some people were standing in front of the next house and they laughed as we went by, we being about neck and neck at the time. Westbury was in that crowd, and for the moment our friendship was in grave danger. But then we came to the house of the man who had made a failure of book chicken-farming, and she darted in. She had remembered it as her home and wanted ...
— Dwellers in Arcady - The Story of an Abandoned Farm • Albert Bigelow Paine

... for the business, with fresh blood and new capital, was growing past all belief. "Everybody has to get washed some time," was one of Ernestine's sayings, and it seemed as if a great many had to be washed by the Twentieth Century Company. She was neck and neck with the expanding business, and her salary went up rapidly until by the time she came into Milly's life she was drawing five thousand dollars a year, and earning it all as the responsible head of a business that netted twenty per cent on its capital, ...
— One Woman's Life • Robert Herrick

... the squadron set vigorously at work to learn the language of this fair creature for himself. Colonel Smith and Sidney Phillips were neck and neck in ...
— Edison's Conquest of Mars • Garrett Putman Serviss

... about half run he was "let out;" the rowels went into the side and the whip came down upon the flanks of the thoroughly aroused racer, and the Virginian began forging to the front, gaining at every leap. Now he is neck and neck, spur and whip are used without stint, he goes ahead and is leaving the "grey" far in the rear; Captain Mitchell is leaning far over on the withers of the faithful little pony, never sparing the whip for a moment, but all could see that he was running a losing race. When about the commencement of ...
— History of Kershaw's Brigade • D. Augustus Dickert

... the rapid progress of San Francisco, with which the Victorians boast that Melbourne is running a neck and neck race; but, if boasting is allowable, Singapore may boast, for in 1818 the island was covered with dense primeval forest, and only a few miserable fishermen and pirates inhabited its creeks and rivers. The prescience of Sir Stamford Raffles ...
— The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither • Isabella L. Bird (Mrs. Bishop)

... news was already bruited throughout the town—in a ferment of excitement, because of the closeness of the contest—that the two candidates, racing gallantly neck and neck, had come under the wire together with not so much as the point of a ...
— The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain and Other Stories • Charles Egbert Craddock

... behind. Gerda could feel the breath of his charger on the hands which held her rein. Close he rode by her, but might never snatch her from the saddle. Like the wind they sped. Now she was a pace in front, now they careered onward neck and neck. ...
— Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine • Lewis Spence

... furious haste. "The French!" George exclaimed; "there's no mistake about them!" On the two flew towards their friends, for the men towards whom they were speeding had by this time discovered their mistake and had ceased firing. It was a neck and neck race, and a very near thing. As the horsemen cleared the open space and dashed safe into the arms of their friends, a huge rabble of demoralized French swept across the path they had just been following. No narrower escape had the two young ...
— With Marlborough to Malplaquet • Herbert Strang and Richard Stead

... to reach the crossroad to New-Garden more conveniently. Gilbert and Fortune alone sprang into the opposite field, and kept a straight southwestern course for the other branch of Redley Creek. The field was divided by a stout thorn-hedge from the one beyond it, and the two horsemen, careering neck and neck, glanced at each other curiously as they approached this barrier. Their respective animals were transformed; the unkempt manes were curried by the wind, as they flew; their sleepy eyes were full ...
— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor

... for the next hour, amid the cheers and chaffing of the boys. Three of them, who had kept neck and neck all the way, were only two minutes behind Forwood; but they had shirked the swim, and taken the higher and drier course—as, indeed, most of the other hounds did—by way of the bridge. Ten minutes after them one other fellow turned up, and a quarter of an hour later three more; ...
— Parkhurst Boys - And Other Stories of School Life • Talbot Baines Reed



Words linked to "Neck and neck" :   inconclusive, nip and tuck, head-to-head



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