Neat
Pronunciation
- IPA: /niËt/
- Rhymes: -iËt
Origin 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.
Full definition of neat
Noun
- (archaic) A bull or cow.
- 1663, Hudibras, by , part 1,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. - ShakespeareThe steer, the heifer, and the calf
Are all called neat. - Tussera neat and a sheep of his own.
- (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 ...
Origin 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 () and Middle English *neit, nait (). See nait.
Adjective
neat
- Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter Foreword, 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, ….
- 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 cosolventThe 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, skillful, 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, "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 chillingâ€. 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.
“Up, Neat, Straight Up, or On the Rocksâ€, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Friday, May 9th, 2008