neck

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
neck/nek/

▶noun

• 1 the part of a person's or animal's body connecting the head to the rest of the body.

• 2 a narrow connecting or end part.

  ■ the part of a bottle or other container near the mouth.

  ■ a narrow piece of terrain or sea.

• 3 the length of a horse's head and neck as a measure of its lead in a race.

• 4 the part of a violin, guitar, or other instrument that bears the fingerboard.

• 5 (usu. in phr. have the neck to do something) informal impudence or nerve.

• 6 Geology a column of igneous rock occupying the site of a volcanic vent.

▶verb

• 1 informal kiss and caress amorously.

• 2 Brit. informal swallow (a drink).

• 3 (often neck down) become narrow at a particular point when subjected to tension.

– phrases
get (or catch) it in the neck Brit. informal be severely criticized or punished.
neck and neck level in a race, competition, or comparison.
neck of the woods informal a particular area or locality.
up to one's neck in informal deeply or busily involved in.

– derivatives
-necked adjective,
necker noun,
neckless adjective.

– origin OE hnecca ‘back of the neck’, of Gmc origin.