\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.