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neck verse

noun

Definitions

  1. The verse formerly read to entitle a party to the benefit of clergy, said to be the first…

    The verse formerly read to entitle a party to the benefit of clergy, said to be the first verse of the fifty-first Psalm, "Miserere mei," etc.

    • Letter or line know I never a one, Were't my neck-verse at Hairibee

  2. A verse or saying, the utterance of which decides one's fate

    A verse or saying, the utterance of which decides one's fate; a shibboleth.

    • These words, "bread and cheese," were their neck verse or shibboleth to distinguish them; all pronouncing "broad and cause," being presently put to death.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for neck verse. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA