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Webster 1913 Edition

Neat

Neat

(nēt)
,
Noun.
s
ing.
&
pl.
[AS.
neát
; akin to OHG.
nōz
, Icel.
naut
, Sw.
nöt
, Dan.
nöd
, and to AS.
neótan
to make use of, G.
geniessen
, Goth.
niutan
to have a share in, have joy of, Lith.
nauda
use, profit.]
(Zool.)
Cattle of the genus
Bos
, as distinguished from horses, sheep, and goats; an animal of the genus
Bos
;
as, a
neat’s
tongue; a
neat's
foot.
Chaucer.
Wherein the herds[men] were keeping of their
neat
.
Spenser.
The steer, the heifer, and the calf
Are all called
neat
.
Shakespeare
A
neat
and a sheep of his own.
Tusser.
Neat's-foot
,
an oil obtained by boiling the feet of neat cattle. It is used to render leather soft and pliable.

Neat

,
Adj.
[See
neat
,
Noun.
]
Of or pertaining to the genus
Bos
, or to cattle of that genus;
as,
neat
cattle
.

Neat

,
Adj.
[
Com
par.
Neater
;
sup
erl.
Neatest
.]
[OE.
nett
, F.
nett
, fr. L.
nitidus
, fr.
nitere
to shine. Cf.
Nitid
,
Net
,
Adj.
,
Natty
.]
1.
Free from that which soils, defiles, or disorders; clean; cleanly; tidy.
If you were to see her, you would wonder what poor body it was that was so surprisingly
neat
and clean.
Law.
2.
Free from what is unbecoming, inappropriate, or tawdry; simple and becoming; pleasing with simplicity; tasteful; chaste;
as, a
neat
style; a
neat
dress.
4.
Excellent in character, skill, or performance, etc.; nice; finished; adroit;
as, a
neat
design; a
neat
thief.
5.
With all deductions or allowances made; net.
[In this sense usually written
net
. See
Net
,
Adj.
, 3.]
neat line
(Civil Engin.)
,
a line to which work is to be built or formed.
–
Neat work
,
work built or formed to neat lines.
Syn. – Nice; pure; cleanly; tidy; trim; spruce.

Webster 1828 Edition

Neat

NEAT

,
Noun.
[Neat coincides with the root of need in elements, and if connected with it, the sense is a herd or collection, from crowding, pressing; but this is doubtful.]
1.
Cattle of the bovine genus, as bulls, oxen and cows. In America, this word is used in composition, as in neats tongue, neats foot oil, and tautologically in neat cattle.
2.
A single cow.

NEAT

,
Adj.
[L. to shine, to be clean, fair or fine; pure, to purify, to winnow.]
1.
Very clean; free from foul or extraneous matter; as neat clothes. The vessels are kept neat; the woman keeps her house very neat.
2.
Pure; free from impure words and phrases; as a neat style.
3.
Cleanly; preserving neatness; as a neat woman.
4.
Pure; unadulterated; as neat wine.
5.
Free from tawdry appendages and well adjusted; as a neat dress.
6.
Clear of the cask, case, bag, box, & c. ; as neat weight. It is usually written net or nett.

Definition 2024

neat

neat

English

Noun

neat ‎(plural neats or neat)

  1. (archaic) A bull or cow.
    • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 2
      Sturdy he was, and no less able / Than Hercules to cleanse a stable; / As great a drover, and as great / A critic too, in hog or neat.
    • Shakespeare
      The steer, the heifer, and the calf / Are all called neat.
    • Tusser
      a neat and a sheep of his own.
  2. (archaic) Cattle collectively.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.9:
      From thence into the open fields he fled, / Whereas the Heardes were keeping of their neat […]
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English *nete, net, nette (> Modern net "good, clean"), from Anglo-Norman neit ‎(“good, desireable, clean”), apparently a conflation of Old French net, nette ("clean, clear, pure"; from Latin nitidus ‎(“gleaming”), from niteō ‎(“I shine”)) and Middle English *neit, nait ("in good order, trim, useful, dextrous"; from Old Norse neytr ‎(“fit for use, in good order”), from Proto-Germanic *nautiz ‎(“useful, helpful”)). See nait.

Adjective

neat ‎(comparative neater, superlative neatest)

  1. Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
    My room is neat because I tidied it this morning.  She has very neat hair.‎
    • 1915, Mrs. Belloc Lowndes, The Lodger, chapter II:
      Then his sallow face brightened, for the hall had been carefully furnished, and was very clean. ¶ There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess:
      A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away, […].
  2. Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.
    I like my whisky neat.‎
  3. (chemistry) Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.
    The Arbuzov reaction is performed by adding the bromide to the phosphite, neat.  The molecular beam was neat acetylene.‎
  4. (archaic) With all deductions or allowances made; net.
  5. Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.
    The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.‎
  6. Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise.
    Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.‎
  7. (colloquial) Good, excellent, desirable.
    Hey, neat convertible, man.‎
Coordinate terms
Antonyms
Usage notes

In bartending, neat has the formal meaning “a liquor pour straight from the bottle into a glass, at room temperature, without ice or chilling”. This is contrasted with on the rocks ‎(“over ice”), and with drinks that are chilled but strained (stirred over ice to chill, but poured through a strainer so that there is no ice in the glass), which is formally referred to as up. However, the terminology is a point of significant confusion, with neat, up, straight up, and straight being used by bar patrons (and some bartenders) variously and ambiguously to mean either “unchilled” or “chilled” (but without ice in the glass), and hence clarification is often required.[1][2]

Translations

Noun

neat ‎(plural neats)

  1. (informal) An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.

References

  1. ↑ “Up, Neat, Straight Up, or On the Rocks”, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Friday, May 9th, 2008
  2. ↑ Walkart, C.G. (2002). National Bartending Center Instruction Manual. Oceanside, California: Bartenders America, Inc. page 106

Anagrams

Cahuilla

Noun

néat

  1. basket

Latin

Verb

neat

  1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of neō

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *nautą. Cognate with Old Frisian nāt, Old Saxon nōt, Dutch noot, Old High German nōz (dialectal German Nos), Old Norse naut.

Pronunciation

Noun

nēat n

  1. cow, ox; animal

Declension

Descendants

West Frisian

Etymology

Negative form of eat

Pronoun

neat

  1. nothing

Etymology

From Middle English nete, neat, from Old English nēat ‎(“animal, beast, ox, cow, cattle”), from Proto-Germanic *nautą ‎(“foredeal, profit, property, livestock”), from Proto-Indo-European *newd- ‎(“to acquire, make use of”). Cognate with Dutch noot ‎(“cow, cattle”, in compounds), dialectal German Noß ‎(“livestock”), Alemannic German Nooss ‎(“young sheep or goat”), Swedish nöt ‎(“cattle”), Icelandic naut ‎(“cattle”). More at note.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /niːt/
  • Rhymes: -iːt
  • IPA(key): /næːɑt/

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