pain (in the neck) n.1
1. a feeling of irritation; see give someone a pain in the neck
2. an annoying person, a bore, a euph. for pain in the arse n.
| [ | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | How to Grow Rich V ii: So, Mr. Pain-in-the-face, (tolatitat) You and the young alderman here have done it]. |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Nigger Heaven 214: Carvin’s too good fo’ an achin’ pain lak him. | |
| ‘Tight Shoes’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 468: This young fellow [...] is known far and wide as a great pain in the neck. | |
| ‘Grandma Isn’t Playing’ in One Basket (1947) 547: Oh, Ma, you’re a pain in the neck! | |
| ‘Latin Blood’ in Speed Detective Aug. 🌐 ‘You know how women are.’ ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘They’re a pain.’. | |
| Tomboy (1952) 107: Aw, sometimes he’s a pain in the neck. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | They’re a Weird Mob (1958) 9: One day my boss said to me, ‘Nino, you are a pain in the head.’. | |
| Jeeves in the Offing 155: [He was] a constant pain in the neck. | |
| All Night Stand 123: He’s all right [...] but a terrible drag. A terrible pain. | |
| Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 166: Dizzy was a pain in the neck. | |
| Family Arsenal 76: You’re a real pain. | |
| Curse of the Vampire Socks 59: Dorothy Jane / I’m afraid, was a pain / In the neck, in the side, in the head. | |
| Goodfellas [film script] 107: Jesus Christ! You can be such a pain. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Snapper 174: He was becoming a right pain in the neck. | |
| Last of the High Kings 85: Erin’s a pain [...] but that Rainbow is like something out of TheExorcist. | |
| Observer 9 Jan. 13: ‘The sponsor was a pain in the neck,’ said one insider. | |
| Birthday 139: He’s a pain most of the time. |
3. an annoying situation, anything considered unpleasant, typically a task one does not wish to perform.
| ‘The Worker’s Train’ 🎵 The eight-fifteen is the worker’s train, / The eight-fifteen, and I’m off again, / The eight-fifteen is an awful pain; / Wish I didn’t have to travel on the eight-fifteen! | |
| (con. 1936–46) Winged Seeds (1984) 360: That’s a pain in the neck for the big boys on Wall Street. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Till Human Voices Wake Us 67: Why don’t they let us out and get rid of two pains in the neck, their’s and our own. | |
| Spike Island (1981) 54: Shoplifting’s a pain. | |
| Big Huey 31: Their authoritative bellowing and their patronising advice grew to be a pain in the neck. | |
| Yes We have No 228: What was acceptable before is now a royal pain. | |
| ‘Death Cannot Be Delegated’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] The [...] backtracking it [i.e. murder] forced one to do just so as to keep your arse out of jail, real pain in the neck it was. |
4. (Aus.) a general insult.
| Lingo 127: In between [the extremes of insult lies an enormous and subtly graded range of possibilities that include the following: arseache; arsehole; [...] pain in the neck/arse. |
In phrases
of a person, thing or situation, to irritate someone.
| letter 10 Dec. in Byrkit Letters from the Southwest (1989) 142: That began to give me a pain. | |
| St Paul Globe (MN) 20 Oct. 9/5: You give me a pain. | |
| Star-Gaz. (Elmira, NY) 15 May 4/3: Yale College Slang [...] [H]e [i.e. a tutor] gives me a pain in the neck. | |
| George’s Mother (2001) 88: I was on’y sayin’ that this gettin’-up business gives me a pain. | |
| Sporting Times 12 May 1/4: He may over-exercise it and give his long-suffering customers a dull pain in the neck. | |
| Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 110: Them mutts gimme a pain! | |
| Shorty McCabe 165: For a girl that had a whole bunch of Johnnies on the waitin’ list, and her with only one best dress to her name at the time, you give me an ache. | |
| ‘At the Actors’ Boarding House’ in Galena Eve. Times (KS) 10 June 4/3: ‘That hotel guy is a rough man.’ [...] ‘His funny rules give me a pain’. | |
| Wash. Post 8 Oct. E3: Aw, you pikers gimme a pain in the neck. | |
| One Man’s War (1929) 159: And the visiting Americans [...] They give me a pain. | |
| Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1977) 198: Well, it gives me a pain [...] But I thought perhaps that was my lack of artistic education. | |
| Juno and the Paycock Act II: The two o’ them ud give you a pain in your face. | |
| Beggars of Life 125: Them damn Johnny Bulls gimme a pain in the ear. | |
| (con. 1918) God have Mercy on Us! (1930) 4: What gives me a pain in the neck is all the time we wasted up at Verdun. | |
 | Very Good, Jeeves 16: ‘It is a well-established fact that I give her a pain in the neck’. | |
| Prison Days and Nights 25: Don’t that give you a pain in the neck? | |
| Sister of the Road (1975) 86: These plutocrats with cars give me a pain. | |
| Amboy Dukes 45: You’re a pretty nice guy [...] but you still give me a pain. | |
| Catcher in the Rye (1958) 33: That’s something else that gives me a royal pain. | |
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Hills were Joyful Together (1966) 144: You gimme a pain in the guts. | |
| Gold in the Streets (1966) 139: God, they’d give you a pain in the teat. | |
| Chips with Everything II ix: Ah, you give me a pain in the neck, you do, you’re a coward. | |
| Sun. Times 5 June n.p.: ‘How do you know those aren’t just frightened peasants?’ ‘Running? Like that? Don’t give me a pain.’. |