Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NEC'ES-SA-RY, n.

A privy.

NE-CES-SIT-A'RI-AN, or NEC-ES-SA'RI-AN, n.

One who maintains the doctrine of philosophical necessity in regard to the origin and existence of things. Beattie.

NE-CES'SIT-ATE, v.t. [from L. necessitas.]

To make necessary or indispensable; to render unavoidable to compel. The Marquis of Newcastle, being pressed on both sides, was necessitated to draw all his army into York. Clarendon. Sickness might necessitate his removal from court. South.

NE-CES'SIT-A-TED, pp.

Made necessary, indispensable or unavoidable.

NE-CES'SIT-A-TING, ppr.

Making necessary or indispensable.

NE-CES-SIT-A'TION, n.

The act of making necessary compulsion. [Little used.] Bramhall.

NE-CES'SIT-IED, a.

In a state of want. [Not in use.] Shak.

NE-CES'SIT-OUS, a.

1. Very needy or indigent; pressed with poverty. There are multitudes of necessitous heirs and penurious parents. Arbuthnot.
2. Narrow; destitute; pinching; as, necessitous circumstances.

NE-CES'SI-TOUS-LY, adv.

In a necessitous manner.

NE-CES'SIT-OUS-NESS, n.

Extreme poverty or destitution of the means of living; pressing want. Burnet.

NE-CES'SIT-UDE, n.

Necessitousness; want. [Not used.] Hale.

NE-CES'SI-TY, n. [L. necessitas.]

1. That which must be and can not be otherwise, or the cause of that which can not be otherwise. It is of necessity that a thing can not be and not be at the same time. It is of necessity that two contradictory propositions can not both be true.
2. Irresistible power; compulsive force, physical or moral. If man's actions are determined by causes beyond his control, he acts from necessity, and is not a free agent. Necessity compelled the general to act on the defensive.
3. Indispensableness; the state of being requisite. The necessity of funds to support public credit, no man questions. The necessity of economy in domestic concerns is admitted. No man can plead necessity in excuse for crimes.
4. Extreme indigence; pinching poverty; pressing need. The cause of all the distractions in his court or army proceeded from the extreme poverty and necessity His Majesty was in. Clarendon.
5. Unavoidableness; inevitableness; as, the necessity of a consequence from certain premises.
6. In the plural, things requisite for a purpose. These should be hours for necessities, / Not for delights. Shak.

NECK, n. [Sax. hnece, hnecca, necca; G. nick, genick, the nape of the neck; D. nek; Sw. nacke; Dan. nakke; It. Port. and Sp. nuca. This word is properly the nape or verteber of the neck behind, and is so rendered in other languages, L. nux; that is, a knob or mass; W. cnwc.]

1. The part of an animal's body which is between the head and the trunk, and connects them. In man and many other animals, this part is more slender than the trunk; hence,
2. A long narrow tract of land projecting from the main body, or a narrow tract connecting two larger tracts; as, the neck of land between Boston and Roxbury.
3. The long slender part of a vessel, as a retort; or of a plant, as a gourd; or of any instrument, as a guitar. A stiff neck, in Scripture, denotes obstinacy in sin. On the neck, immediately after; following closely. First by committing one sin on the neck of another. Perkins. [This phrase is not much used. We more frequently say, on the heels.] To break the neck of an affair, to hinder, or to do the principal thing to prevent. To harden the neck, to grow obstinate; to be more and more perverse and rebellious. Neh. ix.

NECK'BEEF, n.

The coarse flesh of the neck of cattle, sold at a low price. As cheap as neckbeef. Swift.

NECK'CLOTH, n.

A piece of cloth worn on the neck.

NECK'ED, a.

Having a neck; as in stiff-necked.

NECK'ER-CHIEF, or NECK'A-TEE, n.

A gorget; a kerchief for a woman's neck. [Not in much use.] Bailey.

NECK'LACE, n.

A string of beads or precious stones, worn by women on the neck. Arbuthnot.

NECK'LAC-ED, a.

Marked as with a necklace. Sir W. Jones.

NECK'LAND, n.

A neck or long tract of land. Hakewill.

NECK'VERSE, n.

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,” &c. Tindall.

NECK'WEED, n.

Hemp; in ridicule.

NEC'RO-LITE, n.

A variety of trachyte.

NEC-RO-LOG'ICAL, a.

Pertaining to or giving an account of the dead or of deaths.

NEC-ROL'O-GIST, n.

One who gives an account of deaths.