neck and neck

English

Etymology

Figurative, from the image of competing horses abreast in a horse race who are so even (headed for a tie) that their necks are side-by-side.

Phrase

neck and neck

1. (idiomatic) Very close in progress, as in a race or a contest.

   Synonym: nip and tuck

   The polls suggest that the candidates were neck and neck in the election.

   • 1779, Charles Macklin, Love à-la-mode, etc., page 20:

     It lay between me and Dick Riot madam; we were neck and neck for three miles, as hard as we could lay leg to ground, and running every inch, but at the first, I felt for him, found I had the foot […]

   • 1825 November, “Sporting Intelligence”, in Sporting Magazine, volume 17, number 98, page 45:

     Mr. Prendergast's Rainbow filly, watched closely by Paul Jones, took the lead, and they ran almost neck and neck until near the cords, when Paul Jones made a rush, and came home by a length.

   • 1944 May and June, “Notes and News: Express Travel on Slow Lines”, in Railway Magazine, page 184:

     [...] Mr. M. N. Rollason points out that on four-track lines on which the fast lines, in the centre, are flanked by the slow lines, and running at speed is permissible on all four, the traveller can enjoy some quite exciting experiences when trains are doing a "neck-and-neck" on adjacent lines.

   • 1960 July, Trains Illustrated, page 410, photo caption:

     Passing Iver, W.R. 4-6-0 No. 1012 County of Denbigh on the up "Capitals United Express" runs neck-and-neck with a parcels train headed by 4-6-0 No. 6821 Leaton Grange.

Alternative forms

• neck-and-neck
• neck in neck (misconstruction)

Translations

very close in progress

• Catalan: frec a frec (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 叮噹馬頭 / 叮当马头 (ding¹ dong¹ maa⁵ tau⁴)

  Mandarin: 並駕齊驅 / 并驾齐驱 (zh) (bìngjiàqíqū), 勢均力敵 / 势均力敌 (zh) (shìjūnlìdí), 不相伯仲 (bùxiàngbózhòng), 不相上下 (zh) (bùxiāngshàngxià), 不分軒輊 / 不分轩轾 (bùfēnxuānzhì), 旗鼓相當 / 旗鼓相当 (zh) (qígǔxiāngdāng), 平分秋色 (zh) (píngfēnqiūsè)

• Dutch: nek aan nek
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: rinta rinnan, ritirinnan
• French: coude à coude (fr)
• German: Kopf an Kopf
• Hungarian: fej fej mellett
• Irish: gob ar ghob, gob le gob
• Korean: 막상막하 (ko) (maksangmakha)
• Polish: łeb w łeb (pl)
• Portuguese: pau a pau (pt) (Brazil), emparelhado (pt)
• Russian: ноздря́ в ноздрю (ru) (nozdrjá v nozdrju), вро́вень (ru) (vróvenʹ)
• Spanish: cabeza a cabeza
• Telugu: పోటా పోటీ (pōṭā pōṭī), నువ్వా నేనా (nuvvā nēnā)

See also

• dead heat
• photo finish

References

• “neck and neck”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.