| Definitions | | rubberneck |
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noun
- Someone who engages in rubbernecking, or turning and staring.
- (US, obsolete) A tourist.
- Someone or something with a flexible neck.
- 1912, Edward C. Wood, Electrically Operated Bell for Submarine Signaling http://www.google.com/patents?id=p51jAAAAEBAJ, US Patent 1186961, line 57:
- "A suitable washer B1 and B2, both of well known description, are provided to form with clapper arm B3 a watertight joint..."
- 1972, w:Can Themba, Can Themba, The Will to Die http://books.google.com/books?id=A4QRAAAAMAAJ,page 59:
- "'Hi, !' -- he clutched at her pear-like breast jutting from her sweater " 'how long did you think you'll duck me?'"
verb - To watch by crane, craning the neck (as though it were made of rubber), especially if the observer and observed are in motion relative to each other.
- The driver was so busy rubbernecking, trying to get a good view of the accident, that he was almost part of another accident.
Translations: - German: gaffen, sich den Hals verrenken
(trans-mid)
(trans-bottom)
Etymology: Coined in the sense of "tourist" in the United States in the late 19th century. A favored Americanism of w:H.L. Mencken, H.L. Mencken.
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