necessity 
Wherever thought is wholly wanting, or the power to 
actor forbear according to the direction of thought, there 
nec&sity takes place. 
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxi. 13. 
3. A condition requisite for the attainment of 
any purpose ; also, a necessary of life, without 
which life, or at least the life appropriate to 
one's station, would be impossible. 
These should be hours for necessities, 
Not for delights. Shalt., Hen. VIII., v. 1. 2. 
When war is called a necessity, it is meant, of course, 
that its object cannot be attained in any other way. 
Sumner, Orations, I. 48. 
4. Want of the means of living; lack of the 
means to live as becomes one's station or is 
one's habit. 
Off me shall ye have both ayde and comfort 
In all your nedes of necesgite. 
Itom. of Partenaij (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3818. 
I abjure all roofs, and choose 
To wage against the enmity o' the air ; 
To be a comrade with the wolf and owl 
Necessity's sharp pinch ! Shale., Lear, ii. 4. 214. 
5. Extreme need, in general. 
See what strange arts necessitie flndes out 
Marlowe and Nashe, Dido, 1. 142. 
Signior Necessity, that hath no law, 
Scarce ever read his Litleton. 
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 46 
Necessity is the mother of invention. 
S. Franck, Northern Memoirs (written in 1658, 
[printed in 1694). (Bartlett.) 
6f. Business ; something needful to be done. 
They that to you haue nessesite 
Be gracious euer through your gentilnes. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 41. 
Whan he hadde hym a while conveied, he toke leve, and 
yede thourgh the courte in his othir necessities. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 64. 
7. Bad illicit spirit. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
Doctrine of necessity, the doctrine that all human 
actions are absolutely determined by motives, so that the 
will is not free. Internal necessity. See internal. 
Legal necessity, constraint by the law ; also, that which 
one is constrained by the law to do, irrespective of con- 
sent. The word necessity is also used in the law to denote 
that degree of moral necessity which is recognized as jus- 
tifying or excusing an act otherwise unlawful, such as the 
killing of an assailant in self-defense; also, particularly in 
the phrase public necessity, to designate the requirement 
of what is needed for reasonable convenience or facility 
and completeness in accomplishing a public purpose. 
Logical necessity, truth, not merely in the existing state 
of things, but in every state of things in which the propo- 
sition to which the necessity belongs should preserve its 
signification ; the truth of that to know which it is suffi- 
cient to know the meanings of the words in which it is 
expressed. Money of necessity, coins (generally of un- 
usual shape, and rudely fabricated) issued during a siege 
(see siege-piece), or in times of necessity, when there is an 
insufficient supply of gold and silver and the operations of 
the ordinary mints are suspended. Moral necessity. 
See del. 2, above. Natural necessity. See natural. 
Physical necessity, the necessity which arises from the 
laws of the material universe. This necessity is condition- 
al, not absolute. Works of necessity, in the Sunday 
laws, any labors which are necessary to be done on Sun- 
day for life, health, comfort, general welfare, and reason- 
able convenience for enjoying the leisure and the privi- 
leges of the day, such as the running of horse-cars, ferries, 
and, within reasonable limits, railroad-trains, and such la- 
bors as are requisite for maintaining in their necessary 
continuity processes of manufacture incidental to civiliza- 
tion, such as keeping up the fires of a blast-furnace. = Syn. 
Necessity, Need. Necessity is moreilrgent than need: a mer- 
chant may have need of more money in order to the most 
successful managing of his business ; he may have a neces- 
sity for more cash in hand to avoid going into bankruptcy, 
neck (nek), n. [< ME. necke, nekke, nicke, nakke, 
< AS. hnecea, the neck, the back of the neck, 
nape of the neck, = OFries. hnekka, nekke = MD. 
neck, nick, nack, D. efc=MLG. nacke, LG. nakke 
= OHG. hnae (hnacch-),hnach-, nac, MHG. nacke- 
knac, G. nacken = Icel. hnakki = Sw. nacke = 
Dan. nakke, nape of the neck, back of the head. 
Of. nuke, nape of the neck.] 1. That part of an 
animal's body which is between the head and 
the trunk and connects these parts. In every ver- 
tebrate the neck corresponds in extent to the cervical 
vertebra;, when such are distinguishable. It is usually 
narrower or more slender than the parts between which 
it extends. See cuts under muscle. 
He hathe abouten his Nekke 300 Perles oryent, gode and 
grete, and knotted, as Pater Nostres here of Amber. 
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 197. 
Or necklace for a neck to which the swan's 
Is tawnier than her cygnet's. 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
2. Figuratively, life, from the breaking or sever- 
ing of the neck in legal executions : as, to risk 
one's neck; to save one's neck. 3. In entom, : 
(a) The membrane connecting the hard parts of 
an insect's head with those of the thorax, and 
visible only when the head is forcibly drawn 
out. (b) The posterior part of the head when 
this is suddenly narrowed behind the eyes, (c) 
A slender an terior prolongation of the prothorax 
found in certain Diptera and Hymenoptera. 4. 
In tniat., a constricted part, or constriction of a 
3952 
part, like or likened to a neck: as, the neck of 
the thigh-bone ; the neck of the bladder ; the 
neck of the uterus. See cut under femur. 5. 
The flesh of the neck and adjoining parts: as, 
& neck of mutton. 6. That part of a thing which 
corresponds to or resembles the neck of an ani- 
mal. 
Some of them upon the necke of their launce haue an 
hooke, wherewithall they attempt to pull men out of their 
saddles. Hakhtyt's Voyages, I. 62. 
(a) That part of a garment which covers the neck : as, the 
high neck of a gown, (b) A long narrow strip of land con- 
necting two larger tracts ; an isthmus. 
They followed vs to the necke of Land, which we thought 
had beene severed from the mayne. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 107. 
(c) The slender upper part of any vessel which has a larger 
rounded body : as, the neck of a bottle, retort, etc. 
Take the noblest and the strongest brennynge watir that 
ge may haue distillid out of puremygty wiyn, and putte it 
into a glas clepid amphora, with a long necke. 
Book of Quinte Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 5. 
(d) In stringed musical instruments of the viol and lute 
families, the long slender part extending upward from 
the body, culminating in the head where the tension is 
regulated, and bearing in front the finger-board over 
which the strings (or such of them as are to be stopped) 
are stretched, (e) The part of an axle that passes through 
the hub of the wheel ; also, a diminished part of any shaft 
resting in a bearing. (/) The round shank connecting 
the blade and the socket of a bayonet. (;/) The constricted 
part joining the knob to the breech of a gun. (A) The 
contracted part of a furnace over the bridge, between the 
stack and the heating- or melting-chamber, (i) In print- 
ing, the slope between the face and the shoulder of a type. 
Sometimes called beard, (j) In bot. : (1) In mosses, the 
collum or tapering base of the capsule. (2) In histology, 
the rim or wall of the archegonium which projects above 
the prothallium. It rests upon the venter, and is ordina- 
rily composed of four longitudinal rows of cells, (k) The 
lilled-up pipe or channel through which volcanic mate- 
rial has found its way upward. In modern volcanic areas 
the vent through which the lava, cinders, or ashes are 
ejected and reach the surface is generally concealed from 
view by the accumulated material which has been thrown 
out. In eruptive regions belonging to the older geologi- 
cal systems denudation has occasionally removed the over- 
lying debris, so that the connection of the volcanic orifice 
with the more deep-seated regions can be seen and ex- 
amined. This is particularly the case in the Carboniferous 
and Permian volcanic areas of Scotland. 
7. In the clamp process of brickmaking, one 
of a series of walls of unburned bricks which 
together constitute a clamp. The walls are built 
three bricks thick, about sixty long, and from twenty-four 
to thirty high, and incline inward against a central upright 
wall. The sides and top are cased with burned bricks. 
Encyc.BrU.,l\. 281. 
8. A small bundle of the best ears of a wheat- 
harvest, used in the ceremony of "crying the 
neck." [Prov. Eng.] 9. As a geographical 
designation, a corner or triangular district : as, 
Penii's Neck. [Local U. S. (New York, New 
Jersey), and South African.] A stiff neck, in 
Scrip., persistence in disobedience ; obduracy. 
But [they] made their neck sti/, that they might not 
hear, nor receive instruction. Jer. xvii. 23. 
Derbyshire neck, bronchocele or goiter : frequent in the 
hilly parts of Derbyshire, England. Nape Of the neck. 
See nape*. Neck and crop. See crop. Neck and 
heels. Same as neck and crop. 
The liberty of the subject is brought in neck and heclx, 
as they say, that the Earl might be popular. 
Roger North, -Examen, p. 72. 
Neck and neck, at an equal pace ; stride for stride ; ex- 
actly even, or side by side : used in racing, and hence ap- 
plied to competition of any kind. Neck canal-cell, in 
oo(.,the same, or nearly the same, asne*-<:eK. Neck of a 
column or of a capital, in- arch., the space between the 
top of the shaft proper and the projecting part of the cap- 
ital, if any separation is indicated. Thus, in the Doric col- 
umn, the continuation, whether plain, ornamented, or re- 
cessed, of the shaft above the incision orhypotrachelium as 
far as the annulets of the echinus, is the neck. Sometimes 
called tracheliuw-. See necking, and cut under column. 
Neck of agun,the part between the muzzle moldings and 
the cornice-ring. Neck of an embrasure, in fort., the 
narrowest part of the embrasure, within the wider outer 
part, called the mouth. Neck of a rib, the part between 
the head (or capitulum) and the shoulder (or tuberciilum). 
Neck of the bladder, the part of the bladder adjoining 
the urethral outlet. Neck of the calcaneum, the slight- 
ly constricted part in front of the tuberosity. Neck of the 
femur, the constricted part of the femur between the head 
and the top of the shaft Neck Of the foot, the instep. 
HallimU. (Prov. Eng. ] Neck of the humerus. (a) In 
a not. , the slight constriction separating the head from the 
shaft of the bone ; the circumference of the articular sur- 
face, affording attachment to the capsular ligament (b) 
In surg., a weak point in the shaft of the bone, a little 
below the tuberosities : so called from the frequency of 
fracture at this point Neck of the uterus, the lower, 
narrower part of the uterus, projecting into the vagina; 
the cervix uteri. Neck or nothing, at every risk; des- 
perately : as, 1 11 take the chances, neck or nothing. On, or 
in the neck of, immediately after ; closely following ; on 
the heels of. 
He deposed the king ; 
Soon after that, deprived him of his life ; 
And, in the neck of that, task'd the whole state. 
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 8. 92. 
Upon the Neck o/this begun the Quarrel in Holburn be- 
tween the Gentlemen of the Inns of Chancery and some 
Citizens. Laker, Chronicles, p. 193. 
neckercher 
The devil on his neck. See devil. To break the neck, 
to put one of the bones of the neck out of joint ; dislocate 
a cervical vertebra. In legal execution by hanging the 
aim is to cause speedy or instantaneous death by dislo- 
cating the atlas or first bone from the axis or second bone, 
nnil at the same time injuring the spinal cord. See check- 
litimntntt, under ligament. To break the neck Of. See 
break. To give the neck*, to give the finishing stroke. 
Whom when his foe presumes to checke, 
His seruants stand to c/ive the necke. 
Breton, Daffodils and Primroses, p. 5. (Davies.) 
To harden the neck, to grow obstinate or obdurate ; be 
more and more perverse and rebellious. 
Our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and 
hearkened not to thy commandments. Neh. ix. 16. 
To tie neck and heels, to confine by forcibly bringing 
the chin and knees of a person close together. To tread 
on the neck of, figuratively, to subdue utterly : oppress. 
- To win by a neck, in racing, to be first by the length 
of a head and a neck ; make a close finish. 
neck (nek), v. t. [= MD. necken, D. tiekken, 
kill; from the noun: see neck, .] 1. To 
strangle or behead. 
If he should neglect 
One hour, the next shall see him in my grasp, 
And the next after that shall see him neck'd. 
Keats, Cap and Hells, st 22. 
2. To bend down or break off by force of the 
wind: said of ears of corn. [Prov. Eng.] 
neck-band (nek'band), n. If. A gorget. Pah- 
grave, 2. The part of a shirt which encircles 
the neck ; the band to which the collar is sewed, 
or to which a separate collar is buttoned. 
neck-barrowt (uek'bar'6), n. A form of shrine 
in which relics or 
images were carried 
on the shoulders in 
processions. Halli- 
well. 
neck-bearing (nek'- 
bar"ing),w. Inclocks 
and watches, a bear- 
ing for a journal of 
a wheel which is at- 
tached to the end of 
the arbor exterior to 
Neck -bearing. 
a, shaft : b, overhanging pinion ; 
c, neck-bearing. 
the bearing, so that the journal forms a sort 
of neck for the support of the wheel, 
neck-beef (nek'bef), . The coarse flesh of the 
neck of cattle. 
They 11 sell (as cheap as neckbeef) for counters. Sictft. 
neck-bone (nek'bon), . [< ME. nekke Ion; < 
neck + bout 1 .] If. The nape of the neck. 
A hand him smot upon the nekke-bfion. 
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 571. 
2. Any of the cervical vertebrae, of which there 
are seven in nearly all mammals. 
neck-break (uek'brak), w. Complete ruin. 
HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
neck-cell (nek'sel), n. In bot., one of the cells 
that enter into the composition of the neck. 
See neck, 6 (J) (2). 
neck-chain (nek'chia), . A chain serving as 
a necklace. 
neck-cloth (nek'kloth), n. A folded cloth worn 
around the neck as a band or cravat; an ar- 
ticle of dress which replaced the ruff and fall- 
ing band, and formed a marked feature in the 
fashionable dress of men in the reign of Louis 
XIV. Throughout the seventeenth century the ends were 
commonly of lace and fell over the breast. (See tteinkirk.) 
Later, and down to about 1820, the neck-cloth was plain 
and composed of fine white linen. 
The loose neck-cloth had long pendent ends terminating 
in lace, if it was not entirely made of that material. 
Encyc. Brit., VI. 474. 
neck-collart (nek'kol'ar), 11. A gorget. Pain- 
grave. 
necked (nekt), . [< neck + -/ 2 .] Having a 
neck of a kind indicated: generally used in 
composition, as in long-necked, stiff-necked. 
When you hear the drum. 
And the vile squealing of the v/ry-neck'd flfe. 
Shak., M. of V., ii. 5. 30. 
Neckera (nek'er-a), it. [NL. (Hedwig, 1801), 
named after N. J. Decker, a German botanist.] 
A genus of pleurocarpous bryaceous mosses, 
type of the Neckeracea". They are long, erect or pen- 
dent, widely cespitose plants, with flat glossy leaves and 
double peristome, the inner membrane of which is divided 
into filiform segments. 
Neckeraceae (nek-e-ra'sf-e), n. pi. [NL., < 
Xeckera + -acew. ] A division of bryaceous 
mosses, taking its name from thr urn us Neckera. 
They are characterized by having the capsule generally 
immersed in the perichsetium, the calyptra cucullate-con- 
ical, often hairy, and the peristome simple or double, or 
(rarely) absent. 
neckercher (nek'er-cher), H. A corrupted form 
of M<r/.v/v7iiV/'. [Low.] 
Pawned her neckerchers fur clean bands for him. 
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 3. 
