Nĕck'-vĕrse, n.

n. 1. The verse formerly read to entitle a party to the benefit of clergy, said to be the first verse of the fifty-first Psalm, “Miserere mei,” &c. Letter nor line know I never one, Wert my neck-verse at Hairibee. W. Scott. 2. Hence, a verse or saying, the utterance of which decides one's fate; a shibboleth. These words, “bread and cheese,” were their neck-verse or shibboleth to distinguish them; all pronouncing “broad and cause” being presently put to death. Fuller.