Neutral is the /dev/null of gears. When you select neutral in either a standard or automatic transmission vehicle the engine is disconnected from the wheels.

Also describes countries like Switzerland who refuse to take sides in armed conflicts.

Or to describe a liquid which is neither acidic or basic. A pH of 7.0.
An imaginary line in conflicts, "neutral" implies that the subject is not biased in any way of thinking; either with sides that are active in the conflict, or in a philosophy that is separate from every other side (which would, by nature, make them a new side).

Many on everything are guilty of thinking themselves neutral, which can lead cluttered nodes and node war.

We were neutral you say

We weren't involved

You stood by while my heart
was torn out
and nailed to a post

And said nothing

Now you are back
And say we should be friends

I still love you

Of course we can be friends

First, you must retrieve my heart
from the post where it is nailed
mend it as best you can
with kind stitches and care
then crack my chest with a saw
and retractors, sewing my heart
back into place, close my chest
with the wires through the sternum
and turn off the heart lung machine
and see if my heart beats

And you will see when I open my eyes
that we are friends again


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Neu"tral (?), a. [L. neutralis, fr. neuter. See Neuter.]

1.

Not engaged on either side; not taking part with or assisting either of two or more contending parties; neuter; indifferent.

The heart can not possibly remain neutral, but constantly takes part one way or the other. Shaftesbury.

2.

Neither good nor bad; of medium quality; middling; not decided or pronounced.

Some things good, and some things ill, do seem, And neutral some, in her fantastic eye. Sir J. Davies.

3. Biol.

Neuter. See Neuter, a., 3.

4. Chem.

Having neither acid nor basic properties; unable to turn red litmus blue or blue litmus red; -- said of certain salts or other compounds. Contrasted with acid, and alkaline.

Neutral axis, Neutral surface Mech., that line or plane, in a beam under transverse pressure, at which the fibers are neither stretched nor compressed, or where the longitudinal stress is zero. See Axis. -- Neutral equilibrium Mech., the kind of equilibrium of a body so placed that when moved slighty it neither tends to return to its former position not depart more widely from it, as a perfect sphere or cylinder on a horizontal plane. -- Neutral salt Chem., a salt formed by the complete replacement of the hydrogen in an acid or base; in the former case by a positive or basic, in the latter by a negative or acid, element or radical. -- Neutral tint, a bluish gray pigment, used in water colors, made by mixing indigo or other blue some warm color. the shades vary greatly. -- Neutral vowel, the vowel element having an obscure and indefinite quality, such as is commonly taken by the vowel in many unaccented syllables. It is regarded by some as identical with the &ucr; in up, and is called also the natural vowel, as unformed by art and effort. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 17.<-- also called the indefinite vowel, and also represented in phonetic transcriptions by the schwa &schwa; -->

 

© Webster 1913.


Neu"tral (?), n.

A person or a nation that takes no part in a contest between others; one who is neutral.

The neutral, as far as commerce extends, becomes a party in the war. R. G. Harper.

 

© Webster 1913.

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