Net definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

View all »
Definitions (105)

American Heritage Dictionary (25)

noun An openwork fabric made of threads or cords that are woven or knotted together at regular intervals.
noun Something made of openwork fabric, especially:
noun A device for capturing birds, fish, or insects.

22 more from this dictionary »

Century Dictionary (63)

An open textile fabric, of cotton, linen, hemp, silk, or other material, tied or woven with a mesh of any size, designed or used for catching animals alive, either by inclosing or by entangling them; a netting or network used as a snare or trap. Nets are of high antiquity, and there are almost as many kinds of them as there are ways in which a piece of netting or a network can be adapted to the capture of animals. It is characteristic of nets to take the game alive, either by surrounding or inclosing it as in a bag or by entangling” it in meshes. Many kinds of net are described and named—from the nature of the game, as, bird-nets, butterfly-nets, fish-nets; from the way in which the game is taken, as, gill-net, gilling-net; from the way in which the net is handled or worked, as. beating-net, dip-net, draw-net, drag-net, drift-net, drop-net, hand-net, landing-net, set net, stake-net, scoop-net; from the shape of the netting, as, bag-net, purse-net, etc. In the fisheries in which nets are most used, many of them take other names, as fyke, pound, seine, weir, trap. (See these words and the above compounds.) Nets range in size from a few inches to a mile or more: thus, seines have been made reaching (with the ropes which haul them) 5 miles, and sweeping more than 1,000 acres of water-bottom. The material ranges from the finest silk, muslin, etc., to stout cordage; gut or sinew is sometimes used. The mesh is always made with a fixed, not running, knot. The appliances of nets are numerous: as, buoys or buoy-lines to float one border of the net or indicate the whereabouts of a net under water; sinkers, leads, or leadlines to sink one bolder of the net to the bottom of the water; cords or ropes for setting, stretching, hauling, pursing, etc., often worked by mechanical contrivances, as a windlass operated by horse- or steam-power; poles or stakes for setting, etc. In some kinds of set-nets or weirs the staking or paling is so extensive in comparison with the netting that the contrivance is converted into a wooden trap, and is, in fact, called a trap. See net, transitive verb, 2. But as a brid, whiche woll alight And seeth the mete, but nought the nette. Gower, Conf. Amant., iii. And nets of various sorts, and various snares, The seine, the cast- net, and the wicker maze, To waste the watery tribes a thousand ways. Fawkes, tr. of Idylls of Theocritus, xxi.
Figuratively, a snare or device for entrapping or misleading in any way; a moral or mental trap or entanglement. Hue were laht by the net so bryd is in snare. Flemish Insurrection (Child's Ballads, VI. 272). So will I turn her virtue into pitch, And out of her own goodness make the net That shall enmesh them all. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 367. Skill'd to retire, and in retiring draw Hearts after them tangled in amorous nets. Milton, P. R., ii. 162.
A light open woven fabric, as gauze or muslin, worn or used its a protection from annoying insects: as, a mosquito- net spread over a bed.

60 more from this dictionary »

View all »
Examples (50)

But taking your Gmail tasks anywhere you go on the net is a helpful hack, and that's delivered. — Daily DIY
Jinni: Watch what you wish - Ever felt like that searching for movies over the net could be a bit more intelligent and actually understand what you really want to search for? — Megite Technology News: What's Happening Right Now
Being a teen model on the net was the best choice i have ever made. — Penisbot.com Quality Porn Links
Kentucky's defensive effort at the net was another major factor as the Bulldogs (5-8, 0-2) attacked with only a .010 clip and tallied 23 hitting errors. — Kentucky Wildcats News -- www.ukathletics.com
DVD reviewers across the net were also quick to pick up on the film's subtexts. — GreenCine Daily

More examples »

Add a related word »
Related

Used in the Same Context

total · additional · annual · overall · current · significant · web

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

Middle English, from Old English; see ned- in Indo-European roots.
Middle English, elegant, remaining after deductions, from Old French, elegant, and from Old Italian netto, remaining after deductions, both from Latin nitidus, clean, elegant; see neat¹.

Century Dictionary (4)

from Middle English net, from Anglo-Saxon net, nett = Old Saxon netti, net = OFries. nette, nitte = Dutch net = Middle Low German nette = Old High German nezi, nezzi, Middle High German netze, German netz = Icelandic net = Swedish nät = Danish net = Gothic (Moesogothic) nati, a net; cf. Icel, nōt, a large net. Root unknown.
from net, n.
Also nett; from French net = Italian netto (later D. G. Swedish Danish netto), clean, clear, neat, from Latin nitidus, shining, sleek, neat: see neat, an earlier form from the same source.
from net, a.

net

View all »
Definitions (105)

American Heritage Dictionary (25)

Century Dictionary (63)

GNU Webster's 1913 (5)

WordNet (12)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the Same Context

Word Family

Etymologies (6)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

Century Dictionary (4)

Pronunciations
Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

net

View all » Definitions (105)

View all » Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word » Related

synonyms:

synonyms:

Etymologies (6)

Pronunciations Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

View all »
Definitions (105)

View all »
Examples (50)

stop updating
On Twitter

Add a related word »
Related

Pronunciations
Record your own »