English · Idiom Attested

neck and neck

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Level in a race.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Cùng cấp trong một cuộc đua

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

In the second Northern One East match at the Cleveland County Stadium Leeds just beat hosts Mandale after a neck - and - neck struggle throughout the afternoon.

Neck and neck for the last hurrah

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Sense 2

Meaning · English

Horses run NECK AND NECK in a race when they are so perfectly equal that one cannot be said to be before the other.

Era: ca. 1874 (Victorian)

Where it’s used: Origin British & Irish English

Sources & notes

Historical definition reproduced from Hotten’s The Slang Dictionary (1874, public domain; Project Gutenberg #42108, retrieved 2026-07-31). Reflects the attitudes of its era.

Topics: Neck & throat Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “neck and neck” mean?

Level in a race.

Is “neck and neck” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.