Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Remaining after all deductions have been made, as for expenses.
  • adjective Remaining after tare is deducted.
  • adjective Ultimate; final.
  • noun Business A net amount, as of profit or weight.
  • noun The main point; the essence.
  • transitive verb To bring in or yield as profit.
  • transitive verb To clear as profit.
  • 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.
  • noun A barrier against flying insects.
  • noun A mesh for holding the hair in place.
  • noun Something that entraps; a snare.
  • noun A fine mesh fabric used as curtain or dress material or as the foundation for various laces.
  • noun A barrier of meshwork cord or rope strung between two posts to divide a court in half, as in tennis and badminton.
  • noun A ball that is hit into this meshwork barrier.
  • noun The goal in soccer, hockey, and lacrosse.
  • noun The cord meshwork attached to the hoop of a basket in basketball.
  • noun A meshed network of lines, figures, or fibers.
  • noun Computers A complex, interconnected group or system, as.
  • noun The Internet.
  • noun A radio, television, or telephone network.
  • transitive verb To catch or ensnare in a net.
  • transitive verb To acquire or obtain.
  • transitive verb To cover, protect, or surround with a net or network.
  • transitive verb To hit (the ball) into the net, as in volleyball.
  • transitive verb To shoot (the ball or puck) into the goal, as in soccer or hockey.
  • transitive verb To score (a goal).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Clear; pure; unadulterated; neat: as, net (unadulterated) wines.
  • Clear of anything extraneous; with all deductions (such as charges, expenses, discounts, commissions, taxes, etc.) made: as, net profits or earnings; net proceeds; net weight.
  • Lowest; not subject to further deduction or discount: as, these prices are net.
  • To gain or produce as clear profit: as, to net a thousand dollars in a business transaction; the sale netted a hundred dollars.
  • Abbreviations of the Italian netto, free from all deductions.
  • noun In cricket, an open fabric of twine placed so as to enable batsmen to practise without inconveniencing one another.
  • noun In mining, a heavy leather harness used for lowering or raising horses in a shaft.
  • To make as a net; make network of; form into a netting; mesh; knot or weave in meshes.
  • To capture or take with a net, as game; insnare, entangle, or entrap in or by means of network, as any animal.
  • To take as if with a net; capture by arts, wiles, or stratagems; entangle in difficulty; beguile.
  • To put into or surround with a net for protection or safe-keeping; hold in place by means of a net, as one's hair; veil or cover, as the head with a net; spread a net over or around, as a fruit-tree to keep off the birds, or a bed to keep out mosquitos.
  • To make nets or form network; be occupied in knotting or weaving a suitable material into netting.
  • To use the net in capturing game as an art or industry: as, he nets for a living.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Figuratively, a snare or device for entrapping or misleading in any way; a moral or mental trap or entanglement.
  • noun 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.
  • noun Machine-made lace of many kinds.
  • noun A light open meshed bag for holding or confining the hair. Some are made of threads so fine that they are called invisible nets.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[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 neat.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English; see ned- in Indo-European roots. N., sense 5a, short for Internet.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English net, from Proto-Germanic *natjan.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English net, nette, from Old French net, from Latin nitidus. Compare nitid, neat.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word net.

Examples

  • _Per Volume: Cloth 2s. 6d. net, Leather 3s. 6d. net_

    Religion and Art in Ancient Greece Ernest Arthur Gardner

  • _Each volume 6-1/4 X 4 inches, price 1s. net; or in limp leather, with photogravure frontispiece, 2s. net_.

    Purcell John F. Runciman 1891

  • Under my Firefox profile, I have created a file called sample@example. net, which contains the URI F: \Web\firefox\sample@example. net\

    unknown title 2009

  • Under my Firefox profile, I have created a file called sample@example. net, which contains the URI F: \Web\firefox\sample@example. net\

    unknown title 2009

  • (102,775) - 1. 3% Gross income, net of provisions and costs 131,622 10. 4% Other operating and non-operating income, net* (21,721) 82. 8% Net income attributable to shareholders 109,901

    Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7 2009

  • Under my Firefox profile, I have created a file called sample@example. net, which contains the URI F: \Web\firefox\sample@example. net\

    unknown title 2009

  • Generally avoid the term net sales, even if the company uses it to factor in such things as returns and cash discounts.

    Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage PAUL R. MARTIN 2002

  • Generally avoid the term net sales, even if the company uses it to factor in such things as returns and cash discounts.

    Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage PAUL R. MARTIN 2002

  • However, the company's use of the term net operating income may not be comparable to that of other real estate companies as they may have different methodologies for computing this amount.

    unknown title 2011

  • However, the company's use of the term net operating income may not be comparable to that of other real estate companies as they may have different methodologies for computing this amount.

    unknown title 2011

  • Not least, he fought to restore net neutrality, the principle which prevented internet providers from favoring some content over others.

    Beto O’Rourke’s secret membership in America’s oldest hacking group JOSEPH MENN in SAN FRANCISCO 2019

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Ten in reverse.

    November 3, 2007

  • A net can also be used for catching fish, butterflies, etc. None of this 'computer network consisting of a... network of computer networks' malarky.

    November 30, 2007

  • Yeah. What you said.

    November 30, 2007

  • group of ham radio operators meeting over the air at a specific frequency and time - an early form of blogging

    August 20, 2009

  • Hollywood slang for a TV network.

    August 26, 2009