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.

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   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.

   1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091

   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,[…].

   1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

2. Free from contaminants or impurities, unadulterated.

   1932, Winston Churchill, Painting as a Pastime, New York: Cornerstone Library, 1965, At one side of the palette there is white, at the other black; and neither is ever used ‘neat.’

3. Unexposed to dilutionary liquids, especially water.
   1. especiallyAt full strength, free from dilution (usually with water), undiluted

      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.

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      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’—

      1756, David Garrick, Catharine and Petruchio, London: J. & R. Tonson and S. Draper, Prologue

      Bob applied himself steadily to the decanter, and although I nursed my own glass, not matching him drink for drink, we were neither of us, by nightfall, proper specimens of our learned professions. The carafe of water was emptied by nine, and we were drinking our whiskey neat.

      1988, Thomas Flanagan, Novel, The Tenants of Time Chapter 20

   2. especiallyNeither straight up nor on the rocks

      I like my whisky neat, so you have no need for ice at all.

4. chemistryConditions 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.

5. archaicWith all deductions or allowances made; net.

   It may be said, that the increase of the tax is an uncompensated reduction of the neat income of the landlord […]

   1793, John Brand, The Alteration of the Constitution of the House of Commons, and the Inequality of the Land-Tax, Considered Jointly, London: J. Evans, Section III, p. 52

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   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.

   1720, William Bond, chapter 4, in The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell, London: E. Curll, pages 55–56

   Dr. Swift […] says, in his short view of the state of Ireland, that the whole cash of that kingdom amounted to 500,000 l. that out of this they remitted every year a neat million to England, and had scarce any other source to compensate themselves from […]

   1752, David Hume, Political Discourses, Edinburgh: A. Kincaid & A. Donaldson, Discourse 5, page 81

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

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

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

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

8. 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.

9. CanadaUScolloquialGood, excellent, desirable; interesting; cool.

   Hey, neat convertible, man.

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   "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."

   2011 June 20, Phil Mickelson (being quoted), “US Open: Jack Nicklaus tips Rory McIlroy for greatness”, in BBC News

10. obsoleteObsolete 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.?

    1824, Stephen Pike, The Teachers' Assistant: Or a System of Practical Arithmetic, page 97

1. Used to signify a job well done.
2. Used to signify approval.

plural neats

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

plural neats

1. archaicA bull or cow.

   […] he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

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   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.

   1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, “Januarye”, in A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC, stanza 54

   Thanks, i'faith; for silence is only commendable / In a neat's tongue dried.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]

   Sturdy he was, and no less able, / Then Hercules to clense a Stable; / As great: Drover, and as great / A Critick too, in Hog or Neat,

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 51

   […] I sat down by this water in the shade to dine, on a neat’s tongue I had got from good Mrs. Price […]

   1756, Thomas Amory, chapter 28, in The Life of John Buncle, Esq., London: J. Noon, page 165

   Five were proper slender youths, the eldest of whom had not yet beard full grown, black-browed and great of jaw; the sixth, huge as a neat, topped them by half a head.

   1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 17

1. archaicpluralplural onlyCattle collectively.

   And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf / Are all call’d neat.

   c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

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   From thence into the open fields he fled, / Whereas the Heardes were keeping of their neat / And shepheards singing to their flockes, that fed,

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 467

   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.

   1648, Robert Herrick, “To his Muse”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 2

   Synonyms: nolt

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

1. abbreviationacronymuncountableexerciseAcronym of non-exercise activity thermogenesis.

plural Neats

1. A surname from Middle English.