| 释义 |
neutral, a. and n.|ˈnjuːtrəl|
Also 6–7 newtrall, 7 neuterall.
[a. obs. F. neutral (1536 in Godef.), or ad. L. neutrāl-is (of gender, Quintilian): see neuter and -al1.]
A. adj.
1. a. Of rulers, states, etc.: Not assisting, or actively taking the side of, either party in the case of a war or disagreement between other states; remaining inactive in relation to the belligerent powers.
1549Compl. Scot. xi. 88 He professit himself to be neutral bot ȝit he furnest the empriour vitht sex thousand fut men. 1600Edmonds Observ. Cæsar's Comm. 101 Such other Commonweales, as before that time had remained newtrall. 1618Bolton Florus (1636) 11 Being sent as aydes..they turned neuterall in battell for their owne advantage. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4548/2 The Ships of Neutral Nations shall only be seized. a1781Watson Philip III (1839) 13 The Spanish general, who..had seized on the towns of neutral powers. 1842Brande Dict. Sci., etc. s.v. Neutrality, A neutral nation has the right of furnishing to either of the contending parties all supplies which do not fall within the description of contraband of war. 1881Jowett Thucyd. I. 142 If you prefer to be neutral..receive both sides in peace, but neither for the purposes of war.
b. Belonging to a power which remains inactive during hostilities; exempted or excluded from the sphere of warlike operations.
1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4989/3 The entire Cargo of a Neutral Ship. 1777Watson Philip II, iii. (1793) I. 296 Some merchants whom he had sent..under neutral colours to procure intelligence. 1817W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 928 An insurance effected by him on goods to be delivered at a neutral or friendly port. 1855Bright Sp., Russia 7 June (1876) 257 With regard to making the Black Sea a neutral Sea. 1878Lubbock Addr. Pol. & Educ. vii. 129 Neutral goods..are not liable to capture under enemy's flag.
2. a. Taking neither side in a dispute, disagreement, or difference of opinions; not inclining toward either party, view, etc.; assisting neither of two contending parties or persons.
1551Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 116 That the said Provest be chosin be newtrall personis havand regard to the commoun weill of the said burghe. 1603B. Jonson Sejanus i. i, Is he Drusian or Germanican? Or ours? or neutrall? 1650Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars v. 100 The multitude thus storming, the Lords neutrall or wavering. 1746Smollett Reproof 197 While sagely neutral sits thy silent friend, Alike averse to censure or commend. 1760Johnson Idler No. 100 ⁋3 My resolution was, to keep my passions neutral, and to marry only in compliance with my reason. 1827Cooper Prairie I. vii. 108 [He] had evidently persuaded himself that it was his duty to be strictly neutral. 1876Mozley Univ. Serm. x. (ed. 2) 208 They discard a middle and neutral relation as lukewarm.
b. Belonging to neither party or side.
1564–5Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 316 Ordaining the officiar to..collect the saidis teindis, to stak the samyn in neutrall places. 1857–61Buckle Civiliz. (1869) II. v. 233 The neutral ground of physical science. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life viii. i. 277 The largest and best minds..arrive at a sort of neutral region.
c. neutral corner: (see quot. 1954).
1952Amateur Boxing (‘Know the Game’ Series) 29 When a boxer is ‘down’, his opponent must immediately retire to the farther neutral corner where he shall remain until ordered to resume boxing by the Referee. 1954F. C. Avis Boxing Reference Dict. 89 Neutral Corners, the two corners of the ring not occupied, between the rounds, by the boxers and their seconds.
3. a. Comprised under, or belonging to, neither of two specified or implied categories; occupying a middle position with regard to two extremes.
1567Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 583 Ane newtrall and indifferent way. 1592Davies Immort. Soul xx. ii, Some Things good, and some Things ill do seem, And neutral some, in her fantastick Eye. 1609Douland Ornith. Microl. 13 Certain Songs, which do ascend as an Authenticall, and descend as a Plagall, and those are called Neutrall, or mixt Songs. 1675Baxter Cath. Theol. i. ii. 114 Some..deny Adam to have been Holy, and suppose him only Innocent, and Neutral. 1759Wilson in Phil. Trans. LI. 334 The second cause, which electrified both sides plus when the stone was in an intermediate (or, as æpinus calls it, neutral) state, between the two extremes. 1845Encycl. Metrop. IV. 522 Crystals at once attractive, repulsive, and neutral. 1855Bain Senses & Int. ii. i. §20 The greater number..are indifferent or neutral, as respects our enjoyments.
b. Having no strongly marked characteristics or features; undefined, indefinite, vague.
1805Foster Ess. iv. iii. II. 150 That uncoloured neutral vehicle of expression..which may be called the language of generality. 1876Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. iii, Miss Merry was elderly and altogether neutral in expression. Ibid. xli, Dissatisfied with his neutral life.
c. Having no decided colour; of a bluish or greyish appearance; esp. neutral colour or neutral tint (see also quot. 1911). Also neutral orange (see quots. 1934 and 1969).
1821Craig Lect. Drawing, etc. v. 267 The most remote distance becomes a mass of neutral colour. 1835G. Field Chromatography xx. 178 Several mixed pigments of the class of gray colours are sold under the name of Payne's gray, neutral tint, &c. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. I. 297 The pillars and walls of this Duomo are of a uniform, brownish, neutral tint. 1869T. W. Salter Field's Chromatogr. (new ed.) xi. 253 Neutral orange or Penley's Neutral Orange, is a permanent compound pigment composed of yellow ochre and the russet⁓marrone known as brown madder. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight vii. 97 The best glasses, in daylight at least, are the..neutral gray. 1911M. Toch Materials for Permanent Painting xiv. 145 Neutral tint..is a complex mixture of ultramarine, sienna, lamp black or ochre and lamp black, and..is an excellent color which is perfectly permanent. Ibid., Neutral orange..has many of the characteristics of mars orange, but sometimes is made by mixing a brilliant yellow, free from lead, with a bright oxide of iron. 1924F. W. Weber Artists' Pigments 98 Payne's Gray, like Neutral Tint, is prepared by various color manufacturers. 1934H. Hiler Notes on Technique Painting ii. 113 Neutral orange, Penley's orange, a mixture of cadmium yellow with Venetian red. It is only used in water colour. 1969R. Mayer Dict. Art Terms & Techniques 262/1 Neutral orange, a prepared artists' color made of mixed pigments. The best grades would contain cadmium orange or deep cadmium yellow and light red.
Comb.1860Tyndall Glac. i. xiv. 94 The dense neutral-tint masses crept along the sides of the mountains. 1869G. Lawson Dis. Eye (1874) 28 The neutral-tint glasses are far more efficient in affording relief from glare than those of a cobalt-blue colour.
d. Of sounds: Indistinct, indefinite, obscure.
1874Sayce Compar. Philol. vi. 247 The farther back we push our phonological researches, the greater becomes the number of neutral sounds.
e. Phonetics. Of the central, usu. unstressed, vowel sounds [ə] and [ɨ], produced with the tongue in a rest position and having indefinite quality.
1891L. Soames Introd. Phonetics i. iii. 50 The obscure vowel ‘a’ in attend.., sometimes called the natural or the neutral vowel. 1948J. R. Firth Papers in Ling. 1934–51 (1957) ix. 131 The weak, neutral, or ‘minimal’ vowel... The term neutral suits it in English, since it is in fact neutral to the phonematic system of vowels in southern English. 1956D. Abercrombie Problems & Principles iii. 33 The ubiquitous English ‘neutral’ vowel ə. 1965W. S. Allen Vox Latina 4 The so-called ‘neutral’ vowel of standard southern British English, as at the end of sofa. 1972R. A. Palmatier Gloss. Eng. Transformational Gram. 103 Neutral vowel,..the mid central vowel ‘schwa’ [ə]—or the high central vowel ‘barred i’ [ɨ]—to which insufficiently stressed vowels are reduced.
f. Philos. Belonging neither to the mental nor to the physical; esp. as neutral monism, the theory that there is but one substance of existence of which mind and matter are varying arrangements. So neutral monist.
1904W. James in Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & Sci. Methods 1 Sept. 487 Matter we know, and thought we know, and conscious content we know, but neutral and simple ‘pure experience’ is something we know not at all. 1912R. B. Perry Present Philos. Tendencies ii. iv. 79 It is evident that Mach's view can only mean a reduction of both the physical and the mental order to a manifold of neutral elements. 1914B. Russell in Monist XXIV. Apr. 161 ‘Neutral monism’—as opposed to idealistic monism and materialistic monism. Ibid. 171 Neutral monists..infer that the mental and the physical are composed of the same ‘stuff’. 1920S. Alexander Space, Time & Deity II. iii. viii. 216 Nor are we free to suppose that there is a neutral non-mental world containing illusions amongst other neutral objects, neither mental nor physical. 1925C. D. Broad Mind & its Place in Nature iii. 133 It might be so on a Double-Aspect theory, or on a theory of Neutral Monism. 1944J. E. Boodin in P. A. Schilpp Philos. B. Russell xv. 495 It seems to me that Russell's neutral monism is an illusion. Our sensory awareness—‘sensation’ as Russell calls it—is real. But it is not identical with a mathematical equation. 1973A. Quinton Nature of Things III. 237 There is the kind of phenomenalistic or neutral monist theory intimated by Hume and Mill. Ibid. xi. 318 Minds, for the neutral monist, are literally composed of impressions.
4. a. Chem. Having the properties neither of an acid nor of a base; not distinguished by either acid or alkaline reaction.
1661Boyle Exper. & Notes ii. iv, I was wont to give them a negative appellation, and call each of them the neutral or adiaphorous spirit of the body that affords it. 1727–38Chambers Cycl., Neutral Salts, among chemists, are a sort of intermediate salts between acids and alkalies; partaking of the nature of both. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) IV. 398/2 The liquor will neither have the properties of an acid nor an alkali, but will be what is called neutral. 1838T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 106 The solution is neutral. 1875Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 844 Natural or neutral fats and oils, chemically considered, are really salts.
b. Optics. Having or indicating none of the phenomena of polarization.
1813Brewster New Philos. Instr. iv. iv. 336 The horizontal and vertical lines..drawn upon the plate of mica, may be called the neutral axes of the mica. 1845Encycl. Metrop. IV. 565 Every point in a certain line..will there⁓fore be in a neutral state as to polarization, and, of course, appear black.
c. Electr. Neither positive nor negative. Also neutral temperature, that at which no current is produced by two metals arranged to exhibit thermoelectric force; neutral point (see quot. 1892).
1837Brewster Magnet. 363 The decomposition of the neutral fluid will begin immediately. 1860G. B. Prescott Electr. Telegr. 15 The quantity of neutral fluid which a body contains cannot be determined. 1885Watson & Burbury Math. The. Electr. & Magn. I. 241 In an iron and copper couple this neutral temperature is, according to Sir W. Thomson, about 280°C. 1892G. F. Barker Physics 731 The point of temperature at which a given pair of metals have the same thermo-electric power..is called the neutral point.
d. Mech. Lying at the point where the forces of extension and compression meet and are in equilibrium.
1845Encycl. Metrop. III. 60/2 An isosceles triangle, having its vertex in the neutral axis. 1869E. J. Reed Shipbuild. v. 80 The score in the centre plate is cut very near the neutral axis of the girder.
e. Of equilibrium: (see quot. 1879).
1865Intell. Observ. No. 47. 344 Equilibrium stable, unstable, and neutral. 1879Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §291 If a material system, under the influence of internal and applied forces, varying according to some definite law, is balanced by them in any position in which it may be placed, its equilibrium is said to be neutral.
f. Electr. Engin. neutral point, the point in an electrical system which has the same potential that the junction of equal resistances would have if they were connected at their other ends to the lines making up the system; (see also sense 4 c); neutral wire, a wire connected to a neutral point (and usu. also to earth).
1896R. Robb Electr. Wiring iii. 44 The taps are taken off from the neutral wire and either of the other two in such a way that the loads on the two sides of the system will balance as nearly as possible. 1907J. F. C. Snell Distribution Electr. Energy 19 A usual practice is to require the middle of the star, or neutral point, to be earthed. 1930Engineering 7 Mar. 321/3 The necessary apparatus for earthing the neutral point of a three-phase system. 1962Newnes Conc. Encycl. Electr. Engin. 543/1 If no neutral point on a system is earthed and one of the line conductors becomes accidentally earthed, the other two line conductors will immediately assume line voltage to earth and the neutral will assume the line-to-neutral voltage. 1972Smith & Hosie Basic Electr. Engin. Sci. ix. 238 The current in the neutral wire of a balanced 3-ph[ase], 4-wire star-connected system is zero and the conductor may be omitted.
g. neutral-density (Photogr.): applied to a filter that absorbs light of all wavelengths to the same extent and so causes no change in its colour.
1938K. Henney Color Photogr. iii. 58 By the use of a neutral-density filter of the proper transmission, in addition to the colored separation filters, it is possible to lengthen the exposure of the green and the red filters. 1962M. L. Haselgrove Photographers' Dict. 151 Mainly used in sensitometry and color work, a neutral density filter is sometimes resorted to in black and white photography when the camera is loaded with a film of very high speed. 1965M. J. Langford Basic Photogr. xi. 195 Other, colourless, filters include neutral density (grey) filters for reducing image brightness without affecting colour reproduction.
5. Asexual; having no sexual characteristics.
a. Ent. Sexually abortive or undeveloped.
1747Gould Eng. Ants 35 The Queen Ant lays three different Sorts of Eggs, the Male, Female, and Neutral. 1802Paley Nat. Theol. xviii. (1817) 151 The grub is nurtured neither by the father nor the mother, but by the neutral bee.
b. Bot. Having neither pistils nor stamens.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 323 Floret. Tubular,..Neutral, containing neither stamens nor pistil. 1846–50A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 311 Where the flowers..of the ray or margin are pistillate or neutral.
c. Belonging to the class of eunuchs.
1820Byron Juan v. xxvi, Just now a black old neutral personage Of the third sex stept up.
6. Denoting various classes of dyes.
a. Applied to various basic azine dyes: neutral blue, a brown crystalline compound, C24H20N3Cl, which dyes cotton a dull blue but has poor fastness; neutral red, a dark green crystalline compound, C15H16N4.HCl, which forms a red solution in water or alcohol and is used as an acid-base indicator and for staining granules and vacuoles in living cells; neutral violet, a dark green crystalline compound, C22H24N6.HCl, which is occasionally used as a biological stain or an indicator.
1889Cent. Dict. s.v. blue, Neutral blue. 1890Thorpe Dict. Appl. Chem. I. 229/2 The commercial product [sc. toluene red], which contains a certain amount of impurities, is sold under the name of ‘neutral red’... A similar product is..sold under the name of ‘neutral violet’. 1905Cain & Thorpe Synthetic Dyestuffs xviii. 133 The only other Eurhodine of importance is Neutral violet.., prepared by the oxidation of a mixture of p-amidodimethylaniline and m-phenylenediamine. Ibid. 140 Neutral blue..and its derivatives, Basle blue B..and Azine green GB..are important tannin cotton dyes. 1914Chem. Abstr. VIII. 723 (heading) Neutral red as indicator in determination of the alkalinity of the serum. 1930Stain Technol. V. 133 Dyes employed in the vital staining are:..neutral red, neutral violet, fuchsin, [etc.]. 1950Proc. Linn. Soc. CLXII. 69 He [sc. the French cytologist Paiat] saw there no net: on the contrary, he saw separate spheres, and these he called neutral red vacuoles, because he was accustomed to colour them in the living cell with neutral red. 1952K. Venkataraman Chem. Synthetic Dyes II. xxv. 768 A further distinction has been made between Rosindulines..and isoRosindulines, such as Neutral Blue,..in which the auxochrome is in the benzene part of the naphthophenazine nucleus. 1967Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. V. 364 She ascertained the region of epithelial elongation using Neutral Red marks. 1971E. Gurr Synthetic Dyes 110 Neutral violet is only occasionally used as a biological stain.
b. Applied to textile dyes which can be used directly in an approximately neutral dye-bath. So neutral-dyeing ppl. adj.
1892Collin & Richardson tr. Nietzki's Chem. Org. Dyestuffs 14 The salts of certain azosulphonic acids may be termed neutral dyestuffs. They may be directly fixed on vegetable fibres. 1920J. M. Matthews Application of Dyestuffs v. 156 A separate group of dyestuffs is frequently made of the eosin or phthalein dyes. This group includes certain of both the acid and basic dyes, which..might be termed ‘neutral’ dyes... They are applied in neutral or slightly acid bath, and are largely used for the dyeing of silk. 1955A. J. Hall Handbk. Textile Dyeing & Printing iii. 49 Acid wool dyes are sometimes divided into two groups, viz. acid dyeing and neutral dyeing. 1955H. E. Woodward in H. A. Lubs Chem. of Synthetic Dyes & Pigments iii. 151 Many neutral-dyeing dyes are aggregated more than level-dyeing acid dyes. 1962[see sense A. 6 c below].
c. Histology. [Introduced in this sense by P. Ehrlich 1880, in Zeitschr. f. klin. Med. I. 557.] Applied to biological stains or dyes precipitated on mixing an acid dye and a basic dye.
1893N.Y. Med. Jrnl. LVII. 2/2 Other granules react only to basic, or still others only to neutral colors. 1925H. J. Conn Biol. Stains viii. 86 Compound dyes of this sort are sometimes referred to as neutral dyes or neutral stains. This terminology, of course, does not indicate that they are neutral in reaction any more than do the corresponding terms acid and basic dyes. A dye chemist, in fact, uses the term neutral dye in an entirely different sense. 1958J. R. Baker Princ. Biol. Microtechnique xiv. 263 The granules of polymorphonuclear leucocytes are coloured by both the components of the neutral dye, and that is why Ehrlich called them ‘neutrophil’. He regarded the specific dyeing of these granules as an important property of the neutral dyes, not to be obtained without their use. 1962E. Gurr Staining Animal Tissues 31 Neutral ‘dyes’ should not be confused with ‘neutral’ or compound stains. The latter are formed by chemical union between a basic and an acid dye.
B. n.
1. a. One who remains neutral between two parties or sides; a subject of a neutral state, etc.
c1449Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 87 Summe of ȝou ben clepid Doctour-mongers, and summe ben clepid Opinioun-holders, and summe ben Neutralis. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 289 They that tooke part with neither of them, were called Newtralles. 1601Ld. Mountjoy Let. in Moryson Itin. (1617) ii. 173 The whole Province either is joyned with them, or stand neutrals. 1627Hakewill Apol. iv. ii. 286 Such as are Neutralls, who may labour with the one side and with the other to compound the quarrell. 1756Boston News-Letter 22 Jan. 2/2 The French Inhabitants of Nova-Scotia, commonly call'd Neutrals. 1777J. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 323 In politics they are a breed of mongrels or neutrals. 1807–8Syd. Smith P. Plymley's Lett. Wks. 1859 II. 182/1 There should be a free entry of neutrals into the enemy's ports. 1877Brockett Cross & Cr. 26 The powers of Western Europe were either allies of Turkey or neutrals.
b. A neutral vessel.
1805Spirit Public Jrnls. IX. 378 Come my lads, let's run down that merchantman; let's overhaul that neutral.
†2. A neuter word. Obs. rare—1.
1694Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 323/1 Here it signifies neither Male nor Female, but a Neutral thing without Life, and therefore we used it as a Neutral.
3. A neutral salt.
1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) II. 396 It can then be taken in larger quantity, and need not interfere with ammoniacal neutrals.
4. Electr. A neutral point or conductor (cf. A. 4 f above).
1900Jrnl. Inst. Electr. Engin. XXIX. 538 Each of these boards receives from the main generator board five cables, a pair of ‘outers’ for lighting, a similar pair for power, and a common neutral. 1930H. P. Seelye Electr. Distribution Engin. vi. 98 On many systems, the neutral of the primary circuit, whether or not it is brought out as a four-wire circuit, is grounded at the substation. 1973[see live a. 4].
5. = Idiom Neutral (s.v. idiom 5). Also attrib.
1907W. J. Clark Internat. Lang. II. v. 99 Members of the academy..carry on their business by means of circulars, drawn up, of course, in Neutral. 1922A. L. Guérard Short Hist. Internat. Lang. Movement II. vi. 137 International words were selected..and were altered only in order to conform to Neutral spelling. 1928O. Jespersen Internat. Lang. i. 49 Occidental... It forms in that respect a continuation of Neutral and especially of Rosenberger's Reform–Neutral. 1947H. Jacob Planned Auxiliary Language ii. 45 The most favoured systems [based on ethnic languages] were Esperanto, Neutral, Novlatin, and Universal.
6. A position of the driving and driven parts in a gear mechanism in which no power is transmitted. Also fig.
1912G. Harris et al. Audel's Answers on Automobiles 442 With clutch still disengaged, the transmission lever is moved from neutral to first speed position. 1925Morris Owner Jan. 1154/1 Don't lose your head and start the car in gear. Take things quietly, put the lever in neutral, [etc.]. 1926‘J. J. Connington’ Death at Swaythling Court xiii. 250 The Colonel slipped his gear into neutral. 1958Spectator 22 Aug. 251/2 A time-waster filling the hours when the brain is in neutral. 1962J. Braine Life at Top xix. 222 She turned the ignition key; the car jerked forward convulsively, then stopped. ‘Put it in neutral, first.’ 1971R. Dentry Encounter at Kharmel iii. 42 Pepper threw the gear stick into neutral, applied the handbrake firmly, switched off. 1973‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green xxxv. 174 Sue's face went into neutral. 1975T. Allbeury Special Collection xix. 132 The Special Collection [Operation] has been put into neutral by the Presidium. |