Careful Words

neat (n.)

neat (adj.)

  Neat, not gaudy.

Charles Lamb (1775-1834): Letter to Wordsworth, 1806.

What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,

Of Attic taste?

John Milton (1608-1674): To Mr. Lawrence.

Still to be neat, still to be drest,

As you were going to a feast.

Ben Jonson (1573-1637): Epicoene; Or, the Silent Woman. Act i. Sc. 1.

Herbs, and other country messes,

Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses.

John Milton (1608-1674): L'Allegro. Line 85.