hang by the neck
hang (someone or oneself) by the neck
To kill someone or oneself by hanging. Around these parts, they hang criminals like you by the neck. This brutal dictatorship will hang you by the neck for even whispering dissatisfaction with the government. A: "You don't think the prisoner hung himself by the neck?" B: "No, I think he was killed, and it was made to look like a suicide."
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
hang someone by the neck
to execute someone or kill oneself by tying a noose around the neck and dropping the victim in order to break the neck or strangle the victim. The executioner hanged him by the neck until he died. He hanged himself by the neck.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
References in periodicals archive
WB Yeats underwent emergency treatment for car-crash injuries yesterday - but had to
hang by the neck while work on his new home was completed.
'Pirates of the Caribbean did not contain images that suggested it was possible to
hang by the neck without consequences.
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