Neck and crop
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
Completely and often with abrupt or forceful dispatch, especially when someone is thrown out or falls headlong. Dated and chiefly British. It most naturally accompanies throw out, turn out or a description of falling headlong, and often conveys rough or summary treatment. Regional use: British English.
Origin
Neck and crop first described a bodily fall rather than a complete administrative removal. The earliest example located by the cited researcher is Edward Nairne's 1791 account of a rider and horse coming down neck and crop. Crop may refer to the horse's croup or hindquarters, placing both ends of the body in the fall, but the derivation is not certain. Nineteenth-century use extended the image from a headlong tumble to complete, summary expulsion, producing the idiom most likely to be encountered today.
Research Sources
Variants
- Throw someone out neck and crop
Usage Examples
- The fraudulent broker was thrown out of the association neck and crop.
- One hidden root sent the hurried rider neck and crop into the soft verge.
- Security turned the gate-crasher out neck and crop before the speeches began.