All 4 Uses of

negative
in
Moby Dick

But even had this not been the case, he would not after all, perhaps, have boarded her—judging by his subsequent conduct on similar occasions—if so it had been that, by the process of hailing, he had obtained a negative answer to the question he put.
Chpt 52-54

negative = indicating an answer of "no"

Throttling his joy, Ahab negatively answered this unexpected question; and would then have fain boarded the stranger, when the stranger captain himself, having stopped his vessel's way, was seen descending her side.
Chpt 127-129 *

Yet, this wild hint seemed inferentially negatived, by what a grey Manxman insinuated, an old sepulchral man, who, having never before sailed out of Nantucket, had never ere this laid eye upon wild Ahab.†
Chpt 28-30 *

And whatever they may reveal of the divine love in the Son, the soft, curled, hermaphroditical Italian pictures, in which his idea has been most successfully embodied; these pictures, so destitute as they are of all brawniness, hint nothing of any power, but the mere negative, feminine one of submission and endurance, which on all hands it is conceded, form the peculiar practical virtues of his teachings.†
Chpt 85-87

Definitions:

(1) (negative as in: had a negative effect)
bad or harmful
(2) (negative as in: negative feedback from customers)
to express criticism or disagreement, or (especially when talking over a radio or in a military setting) to say "no"
(3) (negative as in: a negative attitude)
pessimistic (emphasizing bad things) or disagreeable
(4) (negative as in: The test came back negative.)
did not find a condition or substance to be present
(5) (negative as in: a negative number)
less than zero
(6) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

See a comprehensive dictionary for less common meanings of negative including some in the fields of electricity, physics, chemistry, medicine, photography, and grammar. Note that most non-technical senses of negative indicate that something is bad or lacking.