Definitions

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

  • noun A person with a very thin neck.
  • noun idiomatic, US, pejorative An insubstantial person; a weakling.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

pencil + neck

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Examples

  • Mr. Horton, age 52, may seem alien among this sedentary crew, but his roots are pure pencil-neck.

    The Fight Against Government Flab Is Personal for These Politicians Elizabeth Williamson 2011

  • That was a lippy pencil-neck from Indian and Northern Affairs, squaring off in a meeting with a delegation from Attawapiskat, a remote northern Ontario reserve where living conditions have been going downhill for years.

    Archive 2009-08-01 2009

  • The Running Dogs took 10th place, besting more than half of our pencil-neck print colleagues.

    A D.C. Race Where the Results Don't Matter Elizabeth Williamson 2011

  • Weeks went by, and after repeated phone calls a pencil-neck DNR inspector showed up and roamed around the property with a clipboard.

    Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » The Organization of No 2010

  • I think Gingrich railing contemptuously against 'elites' bears an eerie resemblance to the infamous ring legend Freddie Blassie, who never missed a chance to lambaste his enemies as nothing but a bunch of "pencil-neck geeks."

    Jeffrey Shaffer: Newt Looks Back In Anger -- At What? Jeffrey Shaffer 2012

  • What it contained was a link to a blog post currently running over at Newsbusters -- the right-wing media watchdog site created by professional uptight pencil-neck Brent Bozell -- which claimed that a Huffington Post contributor had inadvertently pulled back the curtain on MSNBC's prime time operation and admitted the ugly truth about it.

    Chez Pazienza: A Fox on Both Your Houses? Chez Pazienza 2010

  • What it contained was a link to a blog post currently running over at Newsbusters -- the right-wing media watchdog site created by professional uptight pencil-neck Brent Bozell -- which claimed that a Huffington Post contributor had inadvertently pulled back the curtain on MSNBC's prime time operation and admitted the ugly truth about it.

    Chez Pazienza: A Fox on Both Your Houses? Chez Pazienza 2010

  • What it contained was a link to a blog post currently running over at Newsbusters -- the right-wing media watchdog site created by professional uptight pencil-neck Brent Bozell -- which claimed that a Huffington Post contributor had inadvertently pulled back the curtain on MSNBC's prime time operation and admitted the ugly truth about it.

    Chez Pazienza: A Fox on Both Your Houses? Chez Pazienza 2010

  • For the most part, they fit the description of "the pencil-neck geek" from high school.

    Douglas MacKinnon: Palin, Vanity Fair, Envy, and Hate 2009

  • Do you need help with that albatross around your pencil-neck, or with finding your feet and tying your shoes?

    Culling the Culture: Great Balls of Lips BikeSnobNYC 2009

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