neat
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
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”), Swiss German Nooss (“young sheep or goat”), Swedish nöt (“cattle”), Icelandic naut (“cattle”). More at note.
Noun
- (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.
- 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 2
- (archaic) Cattle collectively.
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)
- Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
- My room is neat because I tidied it this morning.
- She has very neat hair.
- Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.
- I like my whisky neat.
- (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.
- (archaic) With all deductions or allowances made; net.
- Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.
- The front room was neat and carefully arranged for the guests.
- Well-executed or delivered; clever, skilful, precise.
- Having the two protagonists meet in the last act was a particularly neat touch.
- (colloquial) Good, excellent, desirable.
- Hey, neat convertible, man.
- 2011 June 20, Phil Mickelson (being quoted), “US Open: Jack Nicklaus tips Rory McIlroy for greatness”, BBc News:
- "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."
Coordinate terms
- (undiluted liquor or cocktail): straight up, up, straight
Antonyms
- (undiluted liquor or cocktail): on the rocks
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
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
References
- ^ “Up, Neat, Straight Up, or On the Rocks”, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Friday, May 9th, 2008
- ^ Walkart, C.G. (2002). National Bartending Center Instruction Manual. Oceanside, California: Bartenders America, Inc. p. 106
Anagrams
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
- IPA: /næːɑt/
Noun
nēat n
Declension
Descendants
- English: neat