neuter
noun
- grammatical gender
verb
- remove one's manly bits (animal or metaphorical extension)
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L338656 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈnjuːtə/ / /ˈn(j)utɚ/
adj
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“either”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English either, English whether, and neither.
- Neutral; on neither side; neither one thing nor another.
“But if I could, by Him that gave me life, I would attach you all and make you stoop Unto the sovereign mercy of the king; But since I cannot, be it known to you I do remain as neuter.”
“This is certain, that in all our Undertakings God will be either our Friend or our Enemy. For Providence never stands neuter […]”
- Having a form which is not masculine nor feminine; or having a form which is not of common gender.
“a neuter noun”
“the neuter definite article”
- Intransitive.
“a neuter verb”
- Sexless: having no or imperfectly developed sex organs.
“[…] I should never have anticipated that natural selection could have been efficient in so high a degree, had not the case of these neuter insects convinced me of the fact.”
- Sexless, nonsexual.
“Rich girls stayed home and got married and then "put out" occasionally, but only as their wifely duty. Prior to the sexual revolution in the 1960s southern belles were the most neuter members of the human race[.]”
- Castrated; having had the reproductive organs removed.
noun
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“either”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English either, English whether, and neither.
- An organism, either vegetable or animal, which at its maturity has no generative organs, or but imperfectly developed ones, as a plant without stamens or pistils, as the garden Hydrangea; especially, one of the imperfectly developed females of certain social insects, as of the ant and the common honeybee, which perform the labors of the community, and are called workers.
- One who has been neutered; eunuch.
“the information i acquire may help me finalize my decision to become a neuter. let me say that castration is (for me) in no way a short term goal. it's something i've heard about, thought about, and believe may benefit me personally.”
“I WOULD SOONER BECOME A NEUTER no seriously tell me where the libido-suppressing pills are”
- The act of neutering (typically an animal)
“Well, we've had a young (probably around a year old, but I'm guessing), intact (he's scheduled for a neuter, but it's one of those "when we get a spare minute" type of things) male Shih-tzu/shih-tzu mix come in about a month ago.”
- A person who takes no part in a contest; someone remaining neutral.
“But if you should beecome eyther a counterfayt Protestant, or a perverse Papist, or a colde and carelesse newter (which God forbid) the harme could not be expressed which you should do to your native Cuntrie.”
“Friends, neuters, enemies, all are as one, to make a fool a madman is their sport […].”
- The neuter gender.
- A noun of the neuter gender; any one of those words which have the terminations usually found in neuter words.
- An intransitive verb or state-of-being verb.
“Make one do, or act (to), fare fare, fare agire, with an accusative when the verb is a neuter, and with a dative when otherwise.”
“Compound verbs other than those already spoken of whereby neuters are made active, are very rare, as I have already hinted under the head of nouns.”
verb
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English neutre, from Latin neuter, from ne (“not”) + uter (“either”), a semantic loan from Koine Greek οὐδέτερος (oudéteros); compare English either, English whether, and neither.
- To remove sex organs from an animal to prevent it from having offspring; to castrate or spay, particularly as applied to domestic animals.
- To rid of sexuality.
“The neutering extends to Believe’s guest stars, with warm-and-fuzzy verses from Ludacris (“I love everything about you / You’re imperfectly perfect”), Big Sean (“I don’t know if this makes sense, but you’re my hallelujah”), Nicki Minaj (who at least squeaks a “bitches” into her verse), and especially Drake, whose desire to hug and kiss the object of his affection on “Right Here” is reminiscent of The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Krusty’s Comeback Special.”
- To drastically reduce the effectiveness of something.
“Congress neutered the bill by adding an exception for big corporations.”
“Here wrangling, bitty conflicts neutered change.”
- To make grammatically neuter.
“At their religious services Am Tikva makes all attempts to de-genderize the liturgy by neutering English nouns and pronouns and, when Hebrew is used, by using both masculine and the feminine forms of the language.”