neat

• IPA^(key): /ˈniːt/

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• Rhymes: -iːt

From Middle English nete, net, nette, from Anglo-Norman neit (“good, desirable, clean”), a variant of Old French net, nette (“clean, clear, pure”), from Latin nitidus (“gleaming”), derived from nitēre (“to shine”). Doublet of net and nitid. Cognate with German nett (“nice, kind”).

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.

   • 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:

     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 Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1595, George Peele, The Old Wives’ Tale, The Malone Society Reprints, 1908, lines 464-465,^[1]

     A cup of neate wine of Orleance,

     That never came neer the brewers of England.

   • 1756, David Garrick, Catharine and Petruchio‎^[2], London: J. & R. Tonson and S. Draper, Prologue:

     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’—

   • 1932, Winston Churchill, Painting as a Pastime, New York: Cornerstone Library, 1965,^[3]

     At one side of the palette there is white, at the other black; and neither is ever used ‘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.
   • 1720, William Bond, chapter 4, in The History of the Life and Adventures of Mr. Duncan Campbell, London: E. Curll, pages 55–56:

     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.

   • 1752, David Hume, Political Discourses‎^[4], Edinburgh: A. Kincaid & A. Donaldson, Discourse 5, page 81:

     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 […]

   • 1793, John Brand, The Alteration of the Constitution of the House of Commons, and the Inequality of the Land-Tax, Considered Jointly‎^[5], London: J. Evans, Section III, p. 52:

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

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. 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.

8. (Canada, US, colloquial) Good, excellent, desirable; interesting; cool.

   Hey, neat convertible, man.

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

9. Obsolete form of net (“remaining after expenses or deductions”).
   • 1824, Stephen Pike, The Teachers' Assistant: Or a System of Practical Arithmetic, page 97:

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

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]

• (antonym(s) of “undiluted liquor or cocktail”): on the rocks

• (undiluted liquor or cocktail): straight up, up, straight

neat

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

neat (plural neats)

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

From Middle English nete, neat, from Old English nēat (“animal, beast, ox, cow, cattle”), from Proto-West Germanic *naut, 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, bull”) and Faroese neyt (“cattle”). More at note.

neat (plural neats or neat)

1. (archaic) A bull or cow.
   • 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:

     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.

   • 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]:

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

   • 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]:

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

   • 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:

     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,

   • 1756, Thomas Amory, chapter 28, in The Life of John Buncle, Esq.‎^[6], London: J. Noon, page 165:

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

neat pl (plural only)

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

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

   • 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]:

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

   • 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:

     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.

• neatbeast
• neatherd
• neathouse
• neatfoot, neatsfoot
• neatish

• geneat

• tane, ante, ta'en, anet, etna, Aten, neta, Etan, ante-, Nate, Etna, Tean, Ante, Tena

néat

1. basket

neat

1. third-person singular present active subjunctive of neō

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

• IPA^(key): /næ͜ɑːt/

nēat n

1. cow, ox; animal
   • late 9th century, translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History

     Hit is weliġ þis ēalond on wæstmum ⁊ on trēowum misenlīcra cynna; ⁊ hit is ġesċræpe on lǣwe sċēapa ⁊ nēata; ⁊ on sumum stōwum wīnġeardas grōwaþ.

     This island is rich in fruits and trees of various kinds; and it is suitable for the pasture of sheep and cattle; and in some places vineyards grow.

• deor

• geneat
• nieten

• English: neat

Negative form of eat. From Old Frisian nāt, nāut, nāwet. Compare English naught.

neat

1. nothing

• “neat”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011