<B>neuter, </B>adjective, noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>(Grammar.) <DD><B> a. </B>neither masculine nor feminine. <BR> <I>Ex. "It" is a neuter pronoun.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(of verbs) neither active nor passive; intransitive. (Abbr:) neut. <DD><B> 2a. </B>(Zoology.) without sex organs or with sex organs that are not fully developed. <BR> <I>Ex. Worker bees are neuter.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Botany.) having neither stamens nor pistils; functionally asexual. <DD><B> 3. </B>being on neither side; neutral. <BR> <I>Ex. as to these matters I shall be impartial, though I cannot be neuter (Sir Richard Steele).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>(Grammar.) <DD><B> a. </B>a neuter word or form. <DD><B> b. </B>the neuter gender. <DD><B> 2. </B>an animal, plant, or insect that is neuter. <DD><B> 3. </B>a neutral. <BR> <I>Ex. which knows no neuter, owns but friends or foes (Byron).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to castrate. <BR> <I>Ex. They had had the animal neutered some seven years back, and it had grown gross, sulky, and resentful (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to counteract or make ineffective; neutralize. <BR> <I>Ex. A point of view that refused to neuter itself with a "nevertheless--" or a "but we must not overlook--" (Sunday Times).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="neutercane">
<B>neutercane, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a storm that draws its force from both tropical and cold-front disturbances in the atmosphere. <BR> <I>Ex. Weather satellites have been providing pictures of the progress and development of neutercanes (Allan Yale Brooks).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="neutral">
<B>neutral, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>on neither side in a quarrel or a war. <BR> <I>Ex. a neutral attitude in an election. Switzerland was neutral in World War II.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>of or belonging to a neutral country or neutral zone. <BR> <I>Ex. a neutral vessel, a neutral port.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>neither one thing nor the other; indefinite. <DD><B> 4a. </B>having little or no color; grayish. <BR> <I>Ex. a neutral sky.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>not tinted by mixture with any other color; pure. <BR> <I>Ex. a neutral yellow.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>neither acid nor base. <BR> <I>Ex. a neutral salt.</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Electricity.) neither positive nor negative. <BR> <I>Ex. Recent experiments ... have led to the discovery of ... a neutral pion, that is a pion with practically the same mass as the charged pion but with no electric charge (H. J. Bhaba).</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>(Biology.) not developed in sex; neuter. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a neutral person or country; one not taking part in a quarrel or war. <BR> <I>Ex. the rights of neutrals.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a position of gears when they do not transmit motion from the engine to the wheels or other working parts. <DD><B> 3. </B>the position of a gearshift lever when gears are in neutral. <DD><B> 4. </B>a neutral color. adv. <B>neutrally.</B> noun <B>neutralness.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="neutralcorner">
<B>neutral corner,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> either of the two corners of a prize ring not occupied by the contestants between rounds. </DL>
<A NAME="neutralcurrent">
<B>neutral current,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Nuclear Physics.) a hypothetical flow of particles involving the weak interaction in which no electric charge is transferred; a stream of neutral W particles. </DL>
<B>neutralism, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the practice of maintaining a position as a neutral, especially in international affairs. </DL>
<A NAME="neutralist">
<B>neutralist, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a person or government that practices or advocates neutrality, especially in international affairs. <DD><B> 2. </B>a geneticist who attributes genetic variation to random disappearance of different forms or stages of organisma. <BR> <I>Ex. Neutralists and selectionists have also diametrically opposed explanations for the mechanism by which genetic variability is maintained (Scientific American).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> practicing or advocating neutrality. <BR> <I>Ex. a neutralist country.</I> (SYN) uncommitted, nonaligned. </DL>
<B>neutrality, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>the condition of being neutral. <BR> <I>Ex. armed neutrality (Woodrow Wilson).</I> (SYN) impartiality. <DD><B> b. </B>the attitude or policy of a nation that does not take part directly or indirectly in a war between other nations. <BR> <I>Ex. Neutrality is not considered to exclude membership of international organizations of a non-military character, still less does it imply any ideological restraint (London Times).</I> (SYN) impartiality. <DD><B> c. </B>a neutral character or status, especially during a time of war. <BR> <I>Ex. Germany violated the neutrality of Belgium in World War I.</I> (SYN) impartiality. <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being neither acid nor alkaline. <BR> <I>Ex. Hemagglutination will occur ... at a pH of 7, which of course is neutrality (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="neutralizable">
<B>neutralizable, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that can be neutralized. </DL>
<A NAME="neutralization">
<B>neutralization, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the act or process of neutralizing. <BR> <I>Ex. The process by which an acid and a base unite to form water and a salt is termed neutralization (W. N. Jones).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the condition of being neutralized. </DL>
<A NAME="neutralize">
<B>neutralize, </B>verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to make neutral. <BR> <I>Ex. Bases neutralize acids.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to keep war out of; keep neutral. <BR> <I>Ex. The city was neutralized so that peace talks could be held there. Switzerland was neutralized in 1815.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to make of no effect by some opposite force; counterbalance. <BR> <I>Ex. She neutralized the bright colors in her room by using a tan rug.</I> (SYN) counteract, offset. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to become neutral or neutralized. </DL>
<A NAME="neutralizer">
<B>neutralizer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person or thing that neutralizes. </DL>
<A NAME="neutralspirits">
<B>neutral spirits,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> unaged ethyl alcohol used with aged whisky to make blended whiskeys, with flavoring to make gin, or without blending as vodka. </DL>
<A NAME="neutralvowel">
<B>neutral vowel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Phonetics.) a central vowel; schwa. </DL>
<A NAME="neutretto">
<B>neutretto, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several elementary particles with a mass of or approximating zero, emitted in radioactive decay. </DL>
<A NAME="neutrino">
<B>neutrino, </B>noun, pl. <B>-nos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a stable atomic particle having no electric charge and a mass too close to zero to be measured. A neutrino is emitted, with an electron, in beta rays. It is believed to play an important part in the decay of the fundamental particles which are unstable. </DL>
<A NAME="neutron">
<B>neutron, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a tiny particle that is neutral electrically and has about the same mass as a proton. Neutrons form a constituent of the nucleus of all atoms except that of the ordinary isotope of hydrogen, and are used to bombard the nuclei of various elements in the production of fission and other nuclear reactions. </DL>
<A NAME="neutronactivationanalysis">
<B>neutron activation analysis,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a method of analyzing the composition of a substance by radioactive bombardment with neutrons to identify the elements present by their characteristic radiation. (Abbr:) NAA (no periods). </DL>
<A NAME="neutronbomb">
<B>neutron bomb,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a hydrogen bomb set off with little heat or shock effect. It is designed to kill personnel by the release of highly lethal, short-lived neutrons or gamma rays. </DL>
<A NAME="neutroncapture">
<B>neutron capture,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the capture of a neutron by the nucleus of an atom. </DL>
<A NAME="neutronflux">
<B>neutron flux,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a flow of neutrons, as in a nuclear reactor. <DD><B> 2. </B>a measure of this flow, expressed by the number of neutrons crossing a unit area in a unit time. </DL>
<A NAME="neutronradiograph">
<B>neutron radiograph,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a picture produced by neutron radiography. </DL>
<A NAME="neutronradiography">
<B>neutron radiography,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a technique for producing an X-ray picture on photographic film by exposing an object to a stream of neutrons. </DL>
<A NAME="neutronstar">
<B>neutron star,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a heavenly body that is the source of powerful X rays and consists of a mass of very densely packed neutrons probably formed by the collapsed atoms of a large star. </DL>
<A NAME="neutrophil">
<B>neutrophil, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a very abundant, phagocytic type of leucocyte that protects the body against infection, making up about 50 to 75 per cent of the total number of white blood cells. </DL>
<B>neutrophilic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> readily staining with either acidic or basic dyes. <BR> <I>Ex. neutrophilic granulocytes.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="nev">
<B>Nev.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> Nevada. </DL>
<A NAME="nevadan">
<B>Nevadan, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the state of Nevada. <DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of Nevada. </DL>
<A NAME="neve">
<B>neve, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the crystalline or granular snow on the upper part of a glacier that has not yet been compressed into ice. <DD><B> 2. </B>a field of such snow; firn. </DL>
<A NAME="never">
<B>never, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>not ever; at no time. <BR> <I>Ex. He never had to work for a living.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>in no case; not at all; to no extent or degree. <BR> <I>Ex. He will never be the wiser.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>never ever,</B> </I>(Informal.) never. <BR> <I>Ex. He was never ever late before.</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>never so,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>not even so. </I> <I>Ex. He spoke never so much as a word.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>no matter how. <BR> <I>Ex. Let him be weighed never so scrupulously, ... he will not be found ... wanting (C. J. Fox).</I> </DL>
