Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
The median strip or central reservation between lanes of traffic in a divided highway.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Louisiana
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see neutral, ground.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
(Sense 1) Per Chase (1979), probably the first explanation of the term neutral ground is by George Cable in 1884: "The people of New Orleans take pride in Canal street^([sic])... Its two distinct granite paved roadways are each forty feet wide, and the tree-bordered 'neutral ground' measures fifty-four feet across. It was 'neutral' when it divided between the French Quarter [i.e., the Creole section] and the Americans [the Anglo section] at the time when their municipality governments were distinct from each other." The Creole and Anglo sections of the city were historically antagonistic toward one another, making the small space between them a notable, if somewhat jocular, "neutral" space.
