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in number, weight, force, or proportion; to counterpoise, counterbalance, counteract, or neutralize. One expression . . . must check and balance another. Kent.

The positive, or non-acid component of a salt; a substance which, combined with an acid, neutralizes the latter and forms a salt; -- applied also to the hydroxides of the positive elements or radicals, and to certain organic bodies resembling them in their property of forming salts with acids.

atomically greater than that of the acid, or exceeding in proportion that of the related neutral salt.

An iron plate or magnet placed near the compass on iron vessels to neutralize the effect of the ship's attraction on the needle.

In a constructive manner; by construction or inference. A neutral must have notice of a blockade, either actually by a formal information, or constructively by notice to his government. Kent.

One of the marauders who, in the Revolutionary War infested the neutral ground between the American and British lines, and committed depredations on the Americans.

ch the saccharine matter and fermentation were so exactly balanced, that they have wholly neutralized each other, and no sweetness is perceptible; -- opposed to sweet wine, in which the saccharine matter is in excess.

erve under his lord in war, to pay a sum of money, etc. Burrill. -- Free ships, ships of neutral nations, which in time of war are free from capture even though carrying enemy's goods. -- Free socage (O.Eng. Law), a feudal tenure held by certain services which, though honorable, were not military. Abbott. -- Free St…

e status of those who minister to them in war. Ambulances and military hospitals are made neutral, and this condition affects physicians, chaplains, nurses, and the ambulance corps. Great Britain signed the convention in 1865. -- Geneva cross (Mil.), a red Greek cross on a white ground; -- the flag and badge adopted i…

An infusion of pigeon's dung used by tanners to neutralize the effects of lime and give flexibility to skins; -- called also grains and bate.

A gray color; any mixture of white and black; also, a neutral or whitish tint.

A neutral organic substance found in the root of the elecampane (Inula helenium), and extracted as a white crystalline or oily material, with a slightly bitter taste.

A compound formed by the union of water with some other substance, generally forming a neutral body, as certain crystallized salts.

active; inert; esp., not exhibiting any action or activity on polarized light; optically neutral; -- said of isomeric forms of certain substances, in distinction from other forms which are optically active; as, racemic acid is an inactive tartaric acid.

ndifferentism; indifference. Gladstone. To give ourselves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in this cause. Fuller. Moral liberty . . . does not, after all, consist in a power of indifferency, or in a power of choosing without regard to motives. Hazlitt.

Not inclined to one side, party, or choice more than to another; neutral; impartial. Indifferent in his choice to sleep or die. Addison.

dark bands, or darkness, in the case of light, silence or increased intensity in sounds; neutralization or superposition of waves generally.

country; to confine to one locality; as, to intern troops which have fled for refuge to a neutral country.

cks, which struck the time on the bell. -- Jack-on-both-sides, one who is or tries to be neutral. -- Jack-out-of-office, one who has been in office and is turned out. Shak. -- Jack the Giant Killer, the hero of a well-known nursery story. -- Jack-with-a-lantern, Jack-o'-lantern. (a) An ignis fatuus; a will-o'-the-w…

To destroy the effect of; to counteract; to neutralize; as, alkali kills acid. To kill time, to busy one's self with something which occupies the attention, or makes the time pass without tediousness.