neck [OE] In Old English the word neck (then spelled hnecca) was quite rare, and actually referred to the back of the neck. Our idea of ‘neck’ was expressed by the words halse and swire, which today survive only as Scottish and northern English dialect terms. A number of common phrases involve necks. Neck and neck, meaning ‘level in a race or contest’ dates back to 1672: it refers to two horses struggling to establish the lead in a race. Horses have been winning races by a neck since at least 1791. The same neck of the woods, ‘the same small area or community’, derives from neck used in the sense ‘narrow strip of woodland’, which is recorded from the mid 17th century, originally in the USA. People have used necking to mean ‘kissing and cuddling’ since the early 19th century, from the idea of clasping someone affectionately around the neck. Necking is also recorded from Late Middle English in the sense ‘beheading’, and from the late 19th century in the sense ‘gulp down’. See also save.