See Also: mutual(dictionary)
mutual(dictionary)
Old Mutual(finance)
Mutual company(money)
mutual resistance(medicine)
Mutual offset(finance)
Mutual fund(finance)
Mutual offset(money)
Mutual association(finance)
Mutual company(finance)

mutual (iou)



mutual adjective & noun. L15.
[Old & mod. French mutuel, from Latin mutuus borrowed, mutual, cogn. with mutare to change: see -AL1.]
A. adjective.
Of a feeling, action, etc.: experienced, expressed, or performed by each of the parties concerned towards or with regard to the other(s); reciprocal. L15.
J. S. Huxley Mutual aid..establishes minimum waste. V. Brittain The mutual devotion between herself and Roland was very pleasant to see. P. Dickinson Can't stand the sight of her...Feeling's mutual.
b. Having the same feelings for each other; standing in a reciprocal relation to another. M16.
c. Pertaining to or characterized by some (implied) mutual action or relation; spec. designating a building society, insurance company, etc., owned by its members and dividing some or all of its profits between them. L18.
d. Electricity. Of a quantity, property, etc.: dependent equally and symmetrically on two circuits or circuit elements, and representing an effect on either of a certain kind of change in the other. M19.
Respective, belonging to each respectively. M16.
Held in common or shared between two or more parties. L16.
P. Monette We met..at a mutual friend's apartment.
Of a relationship etc.: intimate. E17-M18.
Responsive. M17-M19.
Special collocations: mutual admiration society a group of people prone to overestimate each other's merits. mutual assured destruction a US military scenario in which nuclear war is deterred by each side knowing that the other is capable of inflicting unacceptable damage if attacked; abbreviation MAD. mutual characteristic Electronics a characteristic curve representing the variation of anode current with grid voltage at constant anode voltage. mutual conductance Electronics the ratio of the change in the anode current of a valve to the change of grid voltage causing it, the anode voltage being constant. mutual fund N. Amer. a unit trust. mutual inductance Electricity the property of two circuits or devices by virtue of which a variation in the current flowing through one induces an electromotive force in the other; also called transconductance. mutual MASTURBATION.
b. ellipt. as noun.
A mutual friend. rare. E20.
A mutual fund, society, etc. L20.
? Sense A.3 is sometimes regarded as incorrect.
mutualness noun E17.