English Vocabulary for learners
Expressions with the word 'NECK'
from: 'neck and neck'
to: 'stick your neck out'
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Be neck and neck | Reach the same level in a race or competition. | "The three horses are neck and neck so it’s hard to see which one will win." |
| Be up to your neck (in something) | Be exceptionally busy, overburdened or deeply involved in something. | "Sorry I can’t join you for lunch today. I’m up to my neck in work!" |
| Break your neck | Kill yourself or be badly injured. | "You’ll break your neck if you try to climb up that cliff!" |
| Breathe down someone’s neck | Stand over someone and watch them closely . | "The supervisor keeps breathing down our necks all the time." |
| Dead from the neck up | An exaggerated way of saying that someone is stupid or can’t think properly. | "Hey! Come on! Say something and stop acting as if you’re dead from the neck up!" |
| Get it in the neck | Be severely punished or criticized for something you have done. | "I’m going to get it in the neck if my parents find out that I skipped school yesterday!" |
| Millstone (or a yoke) around your neck | A problem or responsibility that becomes a burden and a source of worry. | "The repayments on the house became a millstone/a yoke around his neck." |
| Neck of the woods | Your town or the area where you live. | "What’s the weather like in your neck of the woods?" |
| Pain in the neck | Describes someone who is very irritating or annoying. | "She's a pain in the neck the way she keeps complaining!" |
| Risk your neck | Do something dangerous that could result in injury or death. | "I’m not letting my son risk his neck on that motorbike!” |
| Save (someone’s) neck | Do what you can to prevent serious danger, trouble or disaster. | "Thanks for helping me with the presentation. You saved my neck!" "The driver saved his neck by reversing off the bridge just before it collapsed" |
| Stick your neck out | Draw attention to yourself by saying something that others are afraid to say. | "Julie stuck her neck out and said that the sales target would be impossible to reach." |