neck verse

English

Noun

neck verse (plural neck verses)

  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," etc.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)
  2. (by extension) A verse or saying, the utterance of which decides one's fate; a shibboleth.
    • Fuller
      These words, "bread and cheese," were their neck verse or shibboleth to distinguish them; all pronouncing "broad and cause," being presently put to death.
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