Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Architecture A molding between the upper part of a column and the projecting part of the capital.
  • noun Informal The act of kissing and caressing.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In arch., the hypophyge or moldings often intervening between the projecting part of the capital of a column and the vertical part or shaft, as the annulets of the Doric capital: often used as a synonym of neck, though strictly a column may have a neck, but no necking. See cuts under capital and column.
  • noun A neckhandkerchief or necktie.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Same as neckmold.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of neck.
  • noun A behavior among male giraffes where they hold combat for social dominance using their necks as weapons.
  • noun architecture A neckmould.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun affectionate play (or foreplay without contact with the genital organs)
  • noun the molding at the top of a column

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word necking.

Examples

  • A small (1/2 BLOCKQUOTE square) park near our house, known during the rest of the week as a favorite for necking, is transformed into a magic wonderland of food (raw and cooked), clothing, furniture and junk.

    Letters from Mexico -norange, anyone? 2000

  • It appears for the first time as an architectural decoration in a fragment of sculptured necking from the archaic Temple of

    Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers 1891

  • As Groucho noted: "Whoever named it 'necking' was a poor judge of anatomy."

    Likewise for gnocchi and necking - BatesLine 2005

  • He was interrupted in 'necking' bullets, for they were cast in a mold and left a little protuberance where the run left off.

    The Lincoln Story Book Henry Llewellyn Williams

  • He was interrupted in 'necking' bullets, for they were cast in a mold and left a little protuberance where the run left off.

    The Lincoln Story Book Williams, Henry L 1907

  • Little did I imagine that the gathering would turn into a red-hot "necking" party!

    NPR Topics: News 2010

  • Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel "The Catcher in the Rye," never found out what was the matter with old Jane Gallagher, a girl he got close to "necking" one summer in Maine.

    Yale Daily News: Latest Issue 2009

  • The lower court also found that that Crown did not infringe Rexam's beverage can "necking" patent.

    Patent Law Blog (Patently-O) 2009

  • The lower court also found that that Crown did not infringe Rexam's beverage can "necking" patent.

    Patent Law Blog (Patently-O) 2009

  • A pseudoscientific chart from Sex Respect, a fear-based abstinence curriculum, depicts how male genitalia become aroused during "necking," while female genitalia lag behind until "petting."

    Ms. Magazine Online 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "Whoever named it necking was a poor judge of anatomy."

    - Groucho Marx.

    December 24, 2007