Neat vs Fine - What's the difference?
neat | fine | Related terms |
(archaic) A bull or cow.
* 1663 ,
* Shakespeare
* Tusser
(archaic) Cattle collectively.
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.9:
Clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.
:
*
*: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.
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=Foreword Free from contaminants; unadulterated, undiluted. Particularly of liquor and cocktails; see usage below.
:
(lb) Conditions with a liquid reagent or gas performed with no standard solvent or cosolvent.
:
(lb) With all deductions or allowances made; net.
Having a simple elegance or style; clean, trim, tidy, tasteful.
:
Well-executed or delivered; clever, skillful, precise.
:
(lb) Good, excellent, desirable.
:
*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=June 20, author=Phil Mickelson (being quoted), work=BBC News
, title= An artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct. Compare scruffy.
(lb) Of subjective quality.
#Of superior quality.
#:
#*
#*:"A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.."
#(lb) Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.
#:
#*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3
, passage=Now all this was very fine , but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
#(lb) Good-looking, attractive.
#:
#*, chapter=10
, title= #Subtle, delicately balanced.
#*The Independent
#*:The fine distinction between lender of last resort and a bail-out
#(lb) Showy; overdecorated.
#*(Matthew Arnold) (1822-1888)
#*:He gratified them with occasionalfine writing.
#Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.
#*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
#*:The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine !
#*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
#*:The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.
#*(Thomas Gray) (1716-1771)
#*:He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.
(lb) Of objective quality.
#Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good'' and ''very fine'', and below ''mint .
#:
#(lb) Sunny and not raining.
#*, chapter=23
, title= #Consisting of especially minute particulate; made up of particularly small pieces.
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#Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.
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#Made of slender or thin filaments.
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#Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.
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(lb) Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.
:
(lb) Subtle; thin; tenuous.
*(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
*:The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.
expression of agreement
well, nicely, in a positive way
Fine champagne; French brandy.
* 1926 , Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises , Scribner 2003, p. 14:
* 1936 , Djuna Barnes, Nightwood , Faber & Faber 2007, p. 18:
(usually, in the plural) something that is fine; fine particles
* They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.
to make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.
* Hobbes
to become finer, purer, or cleaner.
To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
To change by fine gradations.
* Browning
to clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
A fee levied as punishment for breaking the law.
* The fine for jay-walking has gone from two dollars to thirty in the last fifteen years.
* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=
, title=Internal Combustion
, chapter=2 To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).
* She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.
To pay a fine.
* Hallam
(music) The end of a musical composition.
(music) The location in a musical score that indicates the end of the piece, particularly when the piece ends somewhere in the middle of the score due to a section of the music being repeated.
(obsolete) To finish; to cease.
(obsolete) To cause to cease; to stop.
(obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
* Spenser
* Shakespeare
A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
(UK, legal) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease.
(Webster 1913)
Neat is a related term of fine.
As a noun neat
is (archaic) a bull or cow or neat can be an artificial intelligence researcher who believes that solutions should be elegant, clear and provably correct compare scruffy.As an adjective neat
is clean, tidy; free from dirt or impurities.As a verb fine is
.neat
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) nete, neat, from (etyl) . More at (l).Noun
(en-noun)- 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 .
- The steer, the heifer, and the calf / Are all called neat .
- a neat and a sheep of his own.
- From thence into the open fields he fled, / Whereas the Heardes were keeping of their neat
Derived terms
* neatherd * neatfoot, neatsfootEtymology 2
From (etyl) . See (l).Adjective
(er)citation, passage=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,
US Open: Jack Nicklaus tips Rory McIlroy for greatness, passage="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, straightAntonyms
* (undiluted liquor or cocktail) on the rocksUsage notes
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 , 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 Rocks”, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Friday, May 9th, 2008Walkart, C.G. (2002). National Bartending Center Instruction Manual. Oceanside, California: Bartenders America, Inc. p. 106
Noun
(en noun)References
Anagrams
* * * ----fine
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) fin, from (etyl) .Adjective
(er)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.}}
Synonyms
* (of superior quality) good, excellent * (informal) (being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory ): all right, ok, , okay, hunky-dory, kosher * (made up of particularly small pieces) fine-grained, powdered, powdery, pulverised, pulverized, small-grained * (made of slender or thin filaments) fine-threadedAntonyms
* (made up of particularly small pieces) coarse * (made of slender or thin filaments) coarseAdverb
(en adverb)- Everything worked out fine.
Synonyms
* (expression of agreement) all right, alright, OK, very wellNoun
(en noun)- We had dined at l'Avenue's, and afterward went to the Café de Versailles for coffee. We had several fines after the coffee, and I said I must be going.
- He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.
Usage notes
Particularly used in plural as fines of ground coffee beans in espresso making.See also
* filingVerb
(fin)- to fine gold
- It hath been fined and refined by learned men.
- to fine the soil
- to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
- I often sate at home / On evenings, watching how they fined themselves / With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
Synonyms
* (to make or become finer, purer, or cleaner ): clarify, refine, purifyDerived terms
* chance'd be a fine thing * cut it fine * fine art * fine as frog hair * fine feathers make fine birds * fine-grained * fine leg * fine line * finely * fineness * fine print * fine-structure constant * fine-tooth comb * fine-tune * fine words butter no parsnips * * just fine * to a fine fare-thee-wellEtymology 2
(etyl)Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.}}
Synonyms
* amercementVerb
- Men fined' for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women ' fined for leave to marry.
Synonyms
* amerceEtymology 3
From (etyl) ("end").Noun
(en noun)Usage notes
This word is virtually never used in speech and therefore essentially confined to musical notation.Derived terms
* da capo al fine=Etymology 4
(etyl) finer, (etyl) finir. See (finish) (transitive verb).Verb
(fin)Noun
(en noun)- to see their fatal fine
- Is this the fine of his fines?
- (Spelman)
