Dictionary

stick one's neck out en · VERB

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To take a risk, putting oneself in a vulnerable position.
   • Uncle Tom's study was a place I seldom entered during my visits to Brinkley Court, because when I did go there he always grabbed me and started to talk about old silver, whereas if he caught me in the open he often touched on other topics, and the way I looked at it was that there was no sense in sticking one's neck out. It was more than a year since I had been inside this sanctum […] 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVI, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
   • Bogey is the cynical cafe owner who lives by his own moral code and sticks his neck out for “no one.” 2014, David Bleiler, TLA Video & DVD Guide 2004: The Discerning Film Lover's Guide, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN:
   • And unfortunately, while Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps (one of the few half-competent ministers in the Cabinet) is clever enough to understand this, he does not really care enough to stick his neck out, given that he is very likely to be heading off for a bigger job in the inevitable Cabinet reshuffle once the virus is under control. 2021 January 27, Christian Wolmar, “Investment, not cuts, is how to generate a big 'return to rail'”, in RAIL, number 923, page 47:

Forms

Relateds

out on a limb · wind one's neck in · lead with one's chin

Translations (8)

fi vaarantaa itsensä (putting oneself in a vulnerable position) · pl nadstawić karku (putting oneself in a vulnerable position) · is gefa höggstað á sér (putting oneself in a vulnerable position) · pl nadstawiać karku (putting oneself in a vulnerable position) · es mojarse (putting oneself in a vulnerable position) · it rischiare l'osso del collo (putting oneself in a vulnerable position) · fr mouiller sa chemise (putting oneself in a vulnerable position) · fr se mouiller (putting oneself in a vulnerable position)