Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Mutual
Mu′tu-al
,Adj.
1.
Reciprocally acting or related; reciprocally receiving and giving; reciprocally given and received; reciprocal; interchanged;
as, a
mutual
love, advantage, assistance, aversion, etc.Conspiracy and
mutual
promise. Sir T. More.
Happy in our
And
mutual
help,And
mutual
love. Milton.
A certain shyness on such subjects, which was
mutual
between the sisters. G. Eliot.
2.
Possessed, experienced, or done by two or more persons or things at the same time; common; joint;
as,
mutual
happiness; a mutual
effort. Burke.
A vast accession of misery and woe from the
mutual
weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Bentley.
☞ This use of mutual as synonymous with common is inconsistent with the idea of interchange, or reciprocal relation, which properly belongs to it; but the word has been so used by many writers of high authority. The present tendency is toward a careful discrimination.
Mutual
, as Johnson will tell us, means something reciprocal, a giving and taking. How could people have mutual
ancestors? P. Harrison.
Mutual insurance
, agreement among a number of persons to insure each other against loss, as by fire, death, or accident.
– Mutual insurance company
, one which does a business of insurance on the mutual principle, the policy holders sharing losses and profits pro rata.
Syn. – Reciprocal; interchanged; common.
Webster 1828 Edition
Mutual
MU'TUAL
,Adj.
Reciprocal; interchanged , each acting in return or correspondence to the other; given and received. Mutual love is that which is entertained by two persons each for the other; mutual advantage is that which is conferred by one person or another,and received by him in return. So we say, mutual assistance, mutual aversion.
And, what should most excite a mutual flame,
Your rural cares and pleasures are the same.