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neat: neat: English has two words neat. The older is now virtually obsolete, while the commoner is a comparatively recent introduction. Neat ‘tidy’ [16] was borrowed from French net ‘neat, clean’. This goes back to Latin nitidus ‘elegant, shiny’, a derivative of the verb nītēre ‘shine’. English originally acquired the word in the 14th century as net ‘clean, tidy’ (from which the modern net ‘with deductions’ developed).

This had a 16thcentury derivative netty, which may be the source of modern English natty [18]. Neat ‘cow, ox’ [OE] is now encountered only in gastronomic contexts, such as ‘neat’s foot jelly’, and even then is an archaism. It goes back to prehistoric Germanic *nautam, a derivative of a base meaning ‘use’, and hence reflects (like cattle itself) the original notion of cattle as ‘useful property’.
=> natty, net
net: net: English has two distinct words net. The commoner and more ancient, ‘mesh’ [OE], is a widespread Germanic word: German has the related netz, Dutch and Danish net, and Swedish nät. Its ultimate origins are not known, although a link with Latin nassa ‘wicker basket for catching fish’ has been suggested. Net ‘without deductions’ [14] comes from French net, which was borrowed into English again two centuries later as neat.

It was originally used, like its French source, for ‘trim, clean’, but this developed via ‘unadulterated, unmixed’ to, by the early 16th century, ‘free from any (further) deduction’. The alternative spelling nett dates from the 16th century.
=> neat
gross (adj.): mid-14c., "large;" early 15c., "thick," also "coarse, plain, simple," from Old French gros "big, thick, fat; tall; strong, powerful; pregnant; coarse, rude, awkward; ominous, important; arrogant" (11c.), from Late Latin grossus "thick, coarse" (of food or mind), in Medieval Latin "great, big" (source also of Spanish grueso, Italian grosso), a word of obscure origin, not in classical Latin. Said to be unrelated to Latin crassus, which meant the same thing, or to German gross "large," but said by Klein to be cognate with Old Irish bres, Middle Irish bras "big."

Its meaning forked in English. Via the notion of "coarse in texture or quality" came the senses "not sensitive, dull stupid" (1520s), "vulgar, coarse in a moral sense" (1530s). Via notion of "general, not in detail" came the sense "entire, total, whole, without deductions" (early 15c.), as in gross national product (1947). Meaning "glaring, flagrant, monstrous" is from 1580s; modern meaning "disgusting" is first recorded 1958 in U.S. student slang, from earlier use as an intensifier of unpleasant things (gross stupidity, etc.).
net (adj.): "remaining after deductions," 1510s, from earlier sense of "trim, elegant, clean, neat" (c. 1300), from Old French net "clean, pure," from Latin nitere "to shine, look bright, glitter" (see neat). Meaning influenced by Italian netto "remaining after deductions." As a noun, 1910.
theoretical (adj.): 1610s, "contemplative," with -al (1) + Late Latin theoreticus "of or pertaining to theory," from Greek theoretikos "contemplative, speculative, pertaining to theory" (by Aristotle contrasted to praktikos), from theoretos "that may be seen or considered," from theorein "to consider, look at" (see theory). Meaning "pertaining to theory, making deductions from theory not from fact" (opposed to practical) is from 1650s; earlier in this sense was theorical (c. 1500). Meaning "ideal, hypothetical" is from 1790s (implied in theoretically). Related: theoretician.