Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Mutual"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Mutual \Mu"tu*al\, a. [F. mutuel, L. mutuus, orig., exchanged,
borrowed, lent; akin to mutare to change. See {Mutable}.]
1. Reciprocally acting or related; reciprocally receiving and
giving; reciprocally given and received; reciprocal;
interchanged; as, a mutual love, advantage, assistance,
aversion, etc.

Conspiracy and mutual promise. --Sir T. More.

Happy in our mutual help, And mutual love. --Milton.

A certain shyness on such subjects, which was mutual
between the sisters. --G. Eliot.

2. Possessed, experienced, or done by two or more persons or
things at the same time; common; joint; as, mutual
happiness; a mutual effort. --Burke.

A vast accession of misery and woe from the mutual
weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
--Bentley.

Note: This use of mutual as synonymous with common is
inconsistent with the idea of interchange, or
reciprocal relation, which properly belongs to it; but
the word has been so used by many writers of high
authority. The present tendency is toward a careful
discrimination.

Mutual, as Johnson will tell us, means something
reciprocal, a giving and taking. How could people
have mutual ancestors? --P. Harrison.

{Mutual insurance}, agreement among a number of persons to
insure each other against loss, as by fire, death, or
accident.

{Mutual insurance company}, one which does a business of
insurance on the mutual principle, the policy holders
sharing losses and profits pro rata.

Syn: Reciprocal; interchanged; common.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

mutual
adj 1: common to or shared by two or more parties; "a common
friend"; "the mutual interests of management and
labor" [syn: {common}]
2: experienced or expressed by each toward the other; "mutual
trust"; "a mutual defense treaty"


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