neck, necke, nekke

[A. S. hnecca; cogn. with Dut. nek =the nape of the neck; Icel. hnakki; Dan. nakke; Sw. nacke; Ger. nacken; O. H. Ger. hnack; Norw. nakke nape, neck; nakk =a knoll; Fr. nuque =the nape of the neck.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. Lit.: In the same sense as II. 1. 2. Figuratively : (1) Life; referring to death by hanging or beheading. "The conspirators became sensible that their necks were in imminent danger." -Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. xvi. (2) Anything corresponding to or more or le resembling the neck of an animal; as (a) A long narrow piece of land connecting two larger tracts; an isthmus. (b) The slender part of a bottle. (c) An intervening and connecting portion; as, the neck of a bayonet connecting the blade and IMG:content-1610.png:[blocks in formation] "Men must lay their murders on your neck." Shakesp.: Othello , v. 2. (9) To harden the neck: To grow obstinate, per- verse, or rebellious. Arch.: A small convex molding surrounding a column at the junction of the shaft and capital. *neck-piece, s. An ornament or a defense for the neck. boil, boy; pout, jowl; cat, çell, chorus, IMG:content-1611.png:[blocks in formation] *něck-land, s. [Eng. neck, and land .] A neck or narrow strip of land connecting two larger tracts. *něck'-verse, *necke-verse, s. [Eng. neck and verse.] 1. The verse formerly given to an accused or condemned person, the reading of which entitled him to benefit of clergy, said to have been the first verse of the fifty-first Psalm. [BENEFIT, B.] "Within forty foot of the gallows conning his neckverse."-Marlowe: Jew of Malta , iv. 4. 2. A means of escape. 3. A verse or saying on the correct utterance of which one's life depended; a shibboleth. "These words, 'bread and cheese,' were their neck verse or shibboleth to distinguish them."- Fuller : Church Hist .