Emily Dickinson Lexicon

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.