neat

adjective

1. 1

   Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.

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

   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.

   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. 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, 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’—

   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. 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. 4

   archaicWith 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.

   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 […]

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

5. 5

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

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

6. 6

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

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

7. 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. 8

   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."

9. 9

   Variant of netobsoleteObsolete 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.?

interjection

1. 1

   Used to signify a job well done.

2. 2

   Used to signify approval.

noun

1. 1

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

noun

1. 1

   archaicA 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.

   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,

noun

1. 1

   archaicCattle 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.

Forms

plural

neats

comparative

neater

superlative

neatest