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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

fall on someone's neck en · VERB

Pronunciation

Meanings

  1. (dated, idiomatic) To embrace someone affectionately or thankfully.
    • [A]fter falling on my neck and hugging me and calling me “cousin” like a character from a Jane Austen novel, . . . she sat me down. 2012, Karen Templeton, chapter 25, in Hanging by a Thread, →ISBN:
    • [W]hen Theseus saw him, his heart leapt into his mouth, and he longed to fall on his neck and welcome him. 1856, Charles Kingsley, The Heroes, Story III: Theseus
    • If he expected either of them to fall on his neck and weep tears of gratitude at his pompous announcement, the colonel was disappointed. 1910, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 15, in Bucky O'Connor:
    • I ought to fall on your neck with joy. . . . You are my father's friend, my mother's, mine. 1920, Harold MacGrath, chapter 24, in The Drums Of Jeopardy:
    • "[T]he moment your delinquent showed the slightest sign of decency . . . you fell on his neck as if he had rescued you from drowning." 1990 March 18, Anne Tyler, “Review of Collected Stories of Wallace Stegner”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 May 2015:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
falls on someone's neck Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
fell on someone's neck Tense=Past lexicographic
falling on someone's neck Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
fallen on someone's neck Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (4)

fr sauter au cou (to embrace someone affectionately or thankfully) · pl obejmować serdecznie (to embrace someone affectionately or thankfully) · pl objąć serdecznie (to embrace someone affectionately or thankfully) · fi heittäytyä syliin (to embrace someone affectionately or thankfully)