Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - neck

~1 n 1 »PART OF THE BODY« the part of your body that joins your head to your shoulders  (She wore a string of pearls around her neck.) 2 »CLOTHING« the part of a piece of clothing that goes around your neck  (the neck of the shirt | The colour's all right, but the neck's a bit low.)  (- see also crew neck, polo neck, scoop neck, turtleneck, V-neck) 3 »BOTTLE« the narrow part of a bottle 4 be up to your neck in to be in a difficult situation, or to be very busy doing something  (Jim's always up to his neck in debt. | I've been up to my neck in paperwork all week.) 5 breathe down sb's neck to watch what someone is doing very carefully, in a way that makes them nervous or annoyed  (How can I, with accountants breathing down my neck the whole time!) 6 V-necked/open-necked etc also V-neck/open-neck etc if a piece of clothing is V-necked etc, it has that type of neck  (a navy V-necked sweater) 7 I'll break/wring your neck spoken used to tell someone that you are so angry with them you feel like hurting them 8 (hanging) around your neck if a problem or difficult situation is hanging around your neck, you are responsible for it, and this makes you worry 9 get it in the neck BrE spoken to be severely punished  (You'll really get it in the neck if you lose that watch!) 10 »MEAT« the neck of an animal, used as food  (neck of lamb) 11 neck and neck informal if two things are neck and neck in a competition or race, they both have an equal chance of winning 12 in this neck of the woods informal in this area or part of the country  (What are you doing in this neck of the woods?) 13 by a neck informal if a race is won by a neck, the winner is only a very short distance in front  (Our horse won by a neck.)  (- see also pain in the neck pain1 (4), risk your neck risk2 (1), save your own skin/neck save1 (10), stick your neck out stick1) 14 »LAND« a narrow piece of land that comes out of a wider part ~2 v informal if two people neck, they kiss for a long time in a sexual way - necking n