neat

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Clean, tidy

   Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.

   • My room is neat because I tidied it this morning.  She has very neat hair.
2. 2

   Free from contaminants

   Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.

   • I like my whisky neat.
   • 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 464-465, A cup of neate wine of Orleance, That never came neer the brewers of England.
   • From this same Head, this Fountain-head divine, / For different Palates springs a different Wine! / In which no Tricks, to strengthen, or to thin ’em— / Neat as imported—no French Brandy in em’—
3. 3

   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. ›+ 14 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      With all deductions or allowances made

      With all deductions or allowances made; net.

      • Why without telling the least title of Falshood, within the space of the last Week’s Play, the Gains of Count Cog, really amounted to no less than Twenty Thousand Pounds Sterling neat Money.
      • It may be said, that the increase of the tax is an uncompensated reduction of the neat income of the landlord […]
   2. 5

      Having a simple elegance or style

      Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.

      • The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.
   3. 6

      Well-executed or delivered

      Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise.

      • Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.
   4. 7

      Facile

      Facile; missing complexity or details in the favor of convenience or simplicity.

      • Courts should not reduce this case to a neat set of legal rules.
   5. 8

      Good, excellent, desirable

      Good, excellent, desirable; interesting; cool.

      • Hey, neat convertible, man.
      • "You can tell that Rory has had this type of talent in him for some time now, and to see him putting it together is pretty neat to see."
   6. 9

      Obsolete form of net (“remaining after expenses or deductions”).

      • What is the neat weight of 4 hogsheads of tobacco, each weighing 10cwt. 3qrs. 10lb. gross; — tare 100lb. per hdd.?
   7. 10

      Used to signify a job well done.

   8. 11

      Used to signify approval.

   9. 12

      An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant,…

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

   10. 13

       A bull or cow.

       • Who both by his calfe, & his lambe wil be known, / may well kill a neate and a shepe of his owne. / And he that wil reare up a pyg in his house, / hath cheaper his bacon, and sweter his souse.
       • Thanks, i'faith; for silence is only commendable / In a neat's tongue dried.
       • […] he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather.
   11. 14

       Cattle collectively.

       • From thence into the open fields he fled, / Whereas the Heardes were keeping of their neat / And shepheards singing to their flockes, that fed,
       • And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf / Are all call’d neat.
       • There on a Hillock thou mayſt ſing / Unto a handſome Shepardling; / Or to a Girle (that keeps the Neat) / VVith breath more ſvveet then Violet.
   12. 15

       Acronym of neuroevolution of augmenting topologies, a genetic algorithm for the…

       Acronym of neuroevolution of augmenting topologies, a genetic algorithm for the generation of evolving artificial neural networks.

   13. 16

       Acronym of non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

   14. 17

       A surname from Middle English.

The neighborhood

• antonymon the rocksantonym(s) of “undiluted liquor or cocktail”