net

A mesh of string, cord or rope.

Adjective

  1. Free from extraneous substances; pure; unadulterated; neat.
    • net wine
  2. Remaining after expenses or deductions.
    • Near-synonym: take-home
    • net profit; net weight

    Synonyms: take-home clear

    Coordinate Terms: gross

  3. Final; end.
    • net result; net conclusion
  4. Good, desirable; clean, decent, clear.
    • Her brest all naked, as net iuory, / Without adorne of gold or siluer bright […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Origin

From Middle English net, nette, from Old French net, from Latin nitidus. Doublet of neat and nitid.

Forms

nett

Derived

denet net earnings net exporter net force net importer net income net ionic equation net lease net loss net magnetization vector net margin net metering net migration net-net net net net operating income net operating loss net pay net present value net profit netput net register ton net sales net tangible assets

Adverb

  1. After expenses or deductions.
    • You'll have $5000 net.

Forms

nett

Derived

net net

Interjection

  1. Alternative spelling of nyet.
    • Or again, the Russian Government may now take a poor view of publicizing rumours of Snowmen being sighted within their own frontiers. They may prefer to say Net to the prospect of dealing with inquiring foreigners who...
    • Communist propaganda has created for Russia a reputation of a “peace-loving” power which it values. It cannot, therefore, afford to say net to any and every Western proposal. - 1971, Bulletin, Munich: Institute for the...
    • Then as now this impersonal vastness was the public face of Russia. Its voice, if it had one, intoned an unmistakable Net. And all the canals and looking-glass mansions, in their courtly but firm way, were saying Net...

Related

net and rouf

Noun Entry 4

  1. A mesh of string, cord or rope.
    • a hairnet; a mosquito net; a tennis net
  2. A device made from such mesh, used for catching fish, butterflies, etc.
    • Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting...
  3. A device made from such mesh, generally used for trapping something.
    • The nets have to be checked to make sure that they are not tangled up and therefore useless, and the carcasses of the dead sharks are removed. - 1983, Richard Ellis, The Book of Sharks, Knopf, →ISBN, page 190:
  4. Anything that has the appearance of such a device.
    • Petri net
  5. A trap.
    • A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs xxix:5:
    • caught in the prosecuting attorney's net
  6. Any set of polygons joined edge to edge that, when folded along the edges between adjoining polygons so that the outer edges touch, form a given polyhedron.
  7. A system that interconnects a number of users, locations etc. allowing transport or communication between them.

    1. (electronics) A conductor that interconnects two or more component terminals.

  8. A framework backed by a mesh, serving as the goal in hockey, soccer, lacrosse, etc.
    • Wigan had N'Zogbia sent off late on but Squillaci headed into his own net to give the home side a deserved point. - 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2-2 Arsenal”, in BBC:
    • The striker headed the ball into the net to make it 1-0.
  9. A mesh stretched to divide the court in tennis, badminton, volleyball, etc.
  10. The area of the court close to the net (mesh stretched to divide the court).

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *neHd- Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Germanic *natją Proto-West Germanic *nati Old English nett Middle English net English net From Middle English net, from Old English net, nett, from Proto-West Germanic *nati, from Proto-Germanic *natją (“net”), from Proto-Indo-European *neHd- (“to knot, turn, twist”). Cognates Cognate with North Frisian näät (“net”), Saterland Frisian Nät (“net”), West Frisian and Dutch net (“net”), German and Luxembourgish Netz (“net”), Yiddish נעץ (nets, “net”), Danish, Elfdalian, Faroese, and Icelandic net (“net”), Norwegian Bokmål nett (“net”), Norwegian Nynorsk net, nett (“net”), Swedish nät (“net”), Gothic 𐌽𐌰𐍄𐌹 (nati, “net”).

Forms

nets

Synonyms

mesh network snare trap reticulation development

Derived

African net sponge all is fish that comes to the net all's fish that comes to the net Apollonian net back of the net balloon net beard net bednet bobbinet bodynet botnet bow net bramble net Brussels net butterfly net camouflage net cargo net casting net casting-net cast net cast one's net far and wide cast one's net wide cast one's net wider cheapernet

Noun Entry 5

  1. The amount remaining after expenses or other kinds of deductions are subtracted.
    • Our net on that transaction was only fourteen dollars.
    • The net on that container was only fourteen tons.

    Coordinate Terms: gross

Forms

nets nett

Related

suttle tare tret

Derived

net net net-net on net

Verb Entry 6

  1. To catch by means of a net.
  2. To catch in a trap, or by stratagem.
    • And now I am here, netted and in the toils. - 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald...
  3. To enclose or cover with a net.
    • to net a tree
    • Old Yew, which graspest at the stones ⁠That name the under-lying dead, ⁠Thy fibres net the dreamless head, Thy roots are wrapt about the bones. - 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto II”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward...
  4. To score (a goal).
    • Evans netted the winner in the 80th minute.
    • Romeu then scored a penalty, Torres netted a header and Moses added the sixth from substitute Oscar's cross. - 2012, Chelsea 6-0 Wolves:
  5. To hit the ball into the net.
    • Azarenka whipped a sensational forehand around the net post to break for 2-0 in the second set, followed it up with a love hold and moved to 5-1 when Paszek netted a forehand. - 2011 June 28, David Ornstein, “Wimbledon...
  6. To form a netting or network; to knit.
    • I was shown into a pretty but rather close drawing-room, and there sat Agnes, netting a purse. - 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […],...

Forms

nets netting netted

Synonyms

catch ensnare entrap snare trap

Derived

benet cast-net internet internetted internetting

Verb Entry 7

  1. To receive as profit.
    • The company nets $30 on every sale.
  2. To yield as profit for.
    • The scam netted the criminals $30,000.
  3. To fully hedge a position.
    • Every party is netting their position with a counter-party.

Forms

nets netting netted nett

Derived

net out

Verb dialectal

  1. To clean, wash, rinse.

Origin

Borrowed from Middle French nettoyer (“to cleanse”).

Forms

nets netting netted

Derived

netting