Emily Dickinson Lexicon

NEU'TRAL-IZE, v.t.

1. To render neutral; to reduce to a state of indifference between different parties or opinions.
2. In chemistry, to destroy or render inert or imperceptible the peculiar properties of a body by combining it with a different substance. Thus to neutralize acids and alkalies is to combine them in such proportions that the compound will not exhibit the qualities of either.
3. To destroy the peculiar properties or opposite dispositions of parties or other things, or reduce them to a state of indifference or inactivity; as, to neutralize parties in government; to neutralize opposition. The benefits of universities – neutralized by moral evils. Ch. Obs. A cloud of counter citations that neutralize each other. R. Everett.