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Equalize   Listen
verb
Equalize  v. t.  (past & past part. equalized; pres. part. equalizing)  
1.
To make equal; to cause to correspond, or be like, in amount or degree as compared; as, to equalize accounts, burdens, or taxes. "One poor moment can suffice To equalize the lofty and the low." "No system of instruction will completely equalize natural powers."
2.
To pronounce equal; to compare as equal. "Which we equalize, and perhaps would willingly prefer to the Iliad."
3.
To be equal to; equal; to match. (Obs.) "It could not equalize the hundredth part Of what her eyes have kindled in my heart."
Equalizing bar (Railroad Mach.), a lever connecting two axle boxes, or two springs in a car truck or locomotive, to equalize the pressure on the axles.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Equalize" Quotes from Famous Books



... in danger, which I have never seen attained to the same extent under any other circumstances. They fortify the health and strengthen the nerves. Their mental and moral influence, also, is great. My observation convinces me that they equalize the spirits, invigorate the intellect, and calm the temper. I am witness to the fact that no one among the Hofwyl students was injured by them in any way, and that very many acquired a strength and an address that astonished ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 91, May, 1865 • Various

... what she puts into his chest, swells the estate, but kills the owner. Nature hates monopolies and exceptions. The waves of the sea do not more speedily seek a level from their loftiest tossing, than the varieties of condition tend to equalize themselves. There is always some leveling circumstance that puts down the overbearing, the strong, the rich, the fortunate, substantially on the same ground with all others. Is a man too strong and fierce for society, and by temper and position a bad citizen,—a morose ruffian, with ...
— Essays • Ralph Waldo Emerson

... opponents of socialism have often likened the future state to a gigantic prison, where every one will be forced to do the work without a chance for a motive which appeals to him as an individual. This is in one respect unfair, as the socialists want to abolish private capital, but do not want to equalize the premiums for work. Yet is their method not introducing inequality up to the point where it has many of the bad features of our present system, and abolishing it just at the point where it would be stimulating and fertilizing ...
— Psychology and Social Sanity • Hugo Muensterberg

... the heavens and the hells is diminished or increased in accordance with the number of those who enter heaven and who enter hell; and this amounts to several thousands daily. The Lord alone, and no angel, can know and perceive this, and regulate and equalize it with precision; for the Divine that goes forth from the Lord is omnipresent, and sees everywhere whether there is any wavering, while an angel sees only what is near himself, and has no perception in himself of what is taking place even ...
— Heaven and its Wonders and Hell • Emanuel Swedenborg

... was the law, and it was just, for no court is infallible and injustice must be rectified somewhere. After the poor man and his poor lawyer had matched their puny wits against those of a fighting District Attorney then mercy must intervene in the name of society and equalize the sentence. For the District Attorney is hired by the county to send every man to prison, but no one is hired to defend the innocent or to balance the scales ...
— Silver and Gold - A Story of Luck and Love in a Western Mining Camp • Dane Coolidge

... of wood or iron, and its capacity should be equal to the daily consumption of water. Its purpose, as already indicated, is to equalize the varying rates of consumption from hour to hour and between day and night. The minimum size of this tank would be such that the flow during the night would just fill the tank with an amount of water just sufficient for the day's needs. ...
— Rural Hygiene • Henry N. Ogden

... per cent. certificates of deposit to the amount of ten millions, on the security of government bonds at par and approved bills receivable at seventy-five per cent. of their face value, as well as to equalize the legal-tender notes held by all for their common benefit and security, had no influence in tranquilizing the public mind, although it showed a determination on their part to stand or fall together. As these certificates were to run till the 1st of November, and to be used as the equivalent ...
— Lippincott's Magazine. Vol. XII, No. 33. December, 1873. • Various

... to equalize wealth. But further to prevent luxury, Lycurgus banished all gold and silver from the country, and forced the people to use iron money,—each piece so heavy that none would care to carry it. He also forbade the citizens to have anything ...
— Historic Tales, vol 10 (of 15) - The Romance of Reality • Charles Morris

... eagerly entering into the spirit of the work. "And when I feel the machine tip away from me I'll go out farther along the framework so as to again equalize the flight." ...
— Boy Scouts Mysterious Signal - or Perils of the Black Bear Patrol • G. Harvey Ralphson

... medicines, allaying the irritation in the gums by friction with a rough ivory ring or a stale crust of broad, and when the head, lungs, or any organ is overloaded or unduly excited, to use the hot bath, and by throwing the body into a perspiration, equalize the circulation, and relieve the system from the ...
— The Book of Household Management • Mrs. Isabella Beeton

... darted inside his shirt. "Maybe this'll equalize us." He brought out the pistol he'd taken off the captain in the guardhouse. Sagen, Nordsen, and Carmody backed off ...
— Next Door, Next World • Robert Donald Locke

... educated man who is competent to interrogate nature, and comprehend her revelations. Though I would not break down the aristocracy of knowledge of the present age, yet, sir, I would level up, and equalize, and thus create, if I may be allowed the expression, a democracy of knowledge. In this way, and in this way only, can men be made equal in fact—equal in their social and political relations—equal in mental refinement, and in a ...
— Cleveland Past and Present - Its Representative Men, etc. • Maurice Joblin

... current is weak, very little of it, if any, will go off into the conductor before actual contact is made. If it is strong, it will often leap across the space with a spark. One body may be charged with positive, and another with negative, electricity. There is then a disposition to equalize that cannot be easily repressed. The positive and the negative will assume their dual functions, their existence together, in spite of obstacles. So as to quantity. That which has most cannot be restrained from imparting to that which has less. ...
— Steam Steel and Electricity • James W. Steele

... we have set before ourselves, to seek every conceivable alteration of such laws and such social arrangements is no more than the New Republican's duty. It may be impossible to select and intermarry the selected best of our race, but at any rate we can do a thousand things to equalize the chances and make good and desirable qualities lead swiftly and clearly to ease and ...
— Mankind in the Making • H. G. Wells

... clipping attach pieces of tape. This tied around the neck and over the under-clothing will prove not only a great relief, but will help the system to better resist a cold; and, for gentlemen, it ought to be in constant use, whether well or ill, as it serves to equalize the clothing over the chest, which is now partially exposed by the fashion of their vests. This invaluable little article can be obtained, when there are no loving fingers to make it, at almost any city drug-store. By wearing ...
— Minnesota; Its Character and Climate • Ledyard Bill

... foreign to our habits of pronunciation. The rarity of the combination will cause an effort in utterance. The effort in utterance will cause an accent to be laid on the latter half of the compound. This will equalize the accent, and abolish the disparity. The word monkshood, the name of a flower (aconitum napellus), where, to my ear at least, there is quite as much accent on the -hood as on the monks-, may serve in the way of illustration. Monks is one word, hood another. ...
— A Handbook of the English Language • Robert Gordon Latham

... All that the ocean graspes in his long armes; Be it where the yerely starre doth scortch the ground, Or where colde Boreas blowes his bitter stormes. Rome was th'whole world, and al the world was Rome; And if things nam'd their names doo equalize, When land and sea ye name, then name ye Rome, And, naming Rome, ye land and sea comprize: For th'auncient plot of Rome, displayed plaine, The map of all ...
— The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 • Edmund Spenser

... and from the history of the war thus far, the author strongly argues the necessity of a policy designed and fitted to build up a diversified industry and a vigorous productive power. In regard to the degree of protection, he advocates no more than is necessary to equalize advantages. In consequence of her abundant capital, lower rate of interest, and cheaper labor, England can manufacture at less cost than we can; and this disadvantage can be counteracted only by protective legislation. The benefits ...
— Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 59, September, 1862 • Various

... on the gallery, I wish to state here that when you are the favoured one in a decision that you know is wrong, strive to equalize it if possible by unostentatiously losing the next point. Do not hit the ball over the back stop or into the bottom of the net with a jaunty air of "Here you are." Just hit it slightly out or in the net, and go on about your business in the regular ...
— The Art of Lawn Tennis • William T. Tilden, 2D

... a passed midshipman on the retired list as fixed by the "Act for the better organization of the military establishment," approved 3d August, 1861, amounted, including rations, to $788 per annum. By the "Act to establish and equalize the grade of line officers of the United States Navy," approved 16th July, 1862, the grade or rank of passed midshipman, which was the next below that of master, was discontinued and that of ensign was established, being now the next grade below that of master and the ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Lincoln - Section 1 (of 2) of Volume 6: Abraham Lincoln • Compiled by James D. Richardson

... of legality must always be sedulously preserved and the aspirations of the nation nominally satisfied. For this reason he arranged matters in such a manner as to appear always as the instrument of fate. For this reason, although he destroyed the revolutionists on the mid-Yangtsze, to equalize matters, on the lower Yangtsze he secretly ordered the evacuation of Nanking by the Imperialist forces so that he might have a tangible argument with which to convince the Manchus regarding the root and branch ...
— The Fight For The Republic in China • Bertram Lenox Putnam Weale

... billiard-player would be to revert from the cue to the mace. The very fact, however, that this privilege multiplies so enormously the advantages of skill is perhaps a good reason for avoiding it in a mixed party of novices and experts, where the object is rather to equalize abilities. It should also be avoided where the croquet-ground is small, as is apt to be the case in our community,—because in such narrow quarters a good player can often hit every other ball during each tour of play, even without this added advantage. If we played habitually on large, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866 • Various

... and he promised himself the satisfaction of walking home beneath the Arch of Constantine and past the vaguely lighted monuments of the Forum. There was a waning moon in the sky, and her radiance was not brilliant, but she was veiled in a thin cloud curtain which seemed to diffuse and equalize it. When, on his return from the villa (it was eleven o'clock), Winterbourne approached the dusky circle of the Colosseum, it recurred to him, as a lover of the picturesque, that the interior, in the pale moonshine, would ...
— Daisy Miller • Henry James

... to equalize the pull on the broad back, and, with the aid of sixteen ordinary men, the feat was accomplished without a hitch. I am sorry to say, however, that poor Samson was laid up for a spell with ...
— World's War Events, Vol. II • Various

... Mr. Quincy an order for legislation to equalize the interest of husbands and wives in each other's property had been previously introduced ...
— The History of Woman Suffrage, Volume IV • Various

... especially along preexisting fissures and upon the softer parts of the rock,—while the glacier, moving as a solid mass, and carrying on its under side its gigantic file set in a fine paste, will in course of time abrade uniformly the angles against which it strikes, equalize the depressions between the prominent masses, and round them off until they present those smooth bulging knolls known as the "roches moutonnees" in the Alps, and so characteristic everywhere of glacier-action. A comparison of any tide-worn hummock with such a glacier-worn ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 80, June, 1864 • Various

... instance, it may be low, as in plain rice pudding, which contains merely rice and milk, or it may be high, as in such concoctions as mousse or parfait, which may contain cream, eggs, gelatine, and fruit. It is possible then, with correct planning, to make the price of the dessert equalize the cost of the meal. For example, if the previous courses have contained expensive foods, the dessert should be an economical one, whereas an expensive one is permissible either when an elaborate meal is desired or when the cheapness of the food served before the dessert ...
— Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4 • Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

... and those of Central and South America, China, Japan, and the important islands in both of the great oceans as will be liberally remunerative for the service rendered and as will encourage the establishment and in some fair degree equalize the chances of American steamship lines in the competitions which they must meet. That the American States lying south of us will cordially cooperate in establishing and maintaining such lines of steamships to their principal ports I ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Volume IX. • Benjamin Harrison

... word they speak, and step they go, It is in purity. 47. Immortal are they every one, Wrapt up in health and light, Mortality from them is gone, Weakness is turn'd to might. 48. The stars are not so clear as they, They equalize the sun; Their glory shines to perfect day, Which day will ne'er be done. 49. No sorrow can them now annoy, Nor weakness, grief or pain; No faintness can abate their joy, They now in life do reign. 50. They shall not there, as here, be vex'd With Satan, men, or sin; Nor with ...
— The Works of John Bunyan • John Bunyan

... the labor of one country crushed by the competition of more favored climates (which is denied), protective duties cannot equalize the facilities of production. To say that by a protective law the conditions of production are equalized, is to disguise an error under false terms. It is not true that an import duty equalizes the conditions of production. These ...
— What Is Free Trade? - An Adaptation of Frederic Bastiat's "Sophismes Econimiques" - Designed for the American Reader • Frederic Bastiat

... scarcely any part of the civil law contained in the Twelve Tables has come down to us. All we know with certainty, is that it was the intention of the decemviral legislation to bring the estates into closer connection, and to equalize the laws for both. Nor do the provisions of the decemviral code, with which we are acquainted, show that enlightened regard to natural justice which characterized jurisprudence in its subsequent development. It allowed insolvent debtors to be treated with great cruelty; they could be imprisoned ...
— The Old Roman World • John Lord

... zone of high barometric pressure, while to the north lies the D'Urville Sea and beyond it the Southern Ocean—a zone of low pressure. As if through a contracted outlet, thereby increasing the velocity of the flow, the wind sweeps down over Adelie Land to equalize the great air-pressure system. And so, in winter, the chilling of the plateau leads to the development of a higher barometric pressure and, as the open water to the north persists, to higher winds. ...
— The Home of the Blizzard • Douglas Mawson

... corresponded well to the height of their sorrow. But now, for the increase of their grief, came those who had the charge of the distribution, and they began to put them apart one from the other, in order to equalize the portions, wherefore it was necessary to part children and parents, husbands and wives, and brethren from each other. Neither in the partition of friends and relations was any law kept, only each fell where the lot took him. O powerful Fortune! ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 • Various

... be said to cut no figure. But will it pay permanently, and to what extent? Prof. G. E. Culver answers this question with great ability. He says positively that it will not materially change climate nor by attraction increase appreciably the annual rainfall, though he thinks it may tend to equalize the distribution of the rainfall. As to climate one might be inclined to disagree with him. There has certainly been a great change in the climate of Utah since irrigation was begun there, and an appreciable change in some parts of Southern California, though not in Colorado, as ...
— The Arena - Volume 4, No. 19, June, 1891 • Various

... Carson, since the gravitational attraction of the planet you call Jupiter is enormous. Antrid will be speeded up in its orbit and the increased centrifugal force will cause it to take up a new and larger orbit where the forces will equalize. Several charges will be required in order to free her entirely from the ...
— The Copper-Clad World • Harl Vincent

... cross piece on the object below, and the sides coming up to the lid. If cross bars are nailed in a box, damage may be done to an object in forcing the bars loose. It is often best to put heavy and light things in the same box, to equalize weights in journeying; if well secured, a mixed boxful travels well. Be very careful that a wedge-shaped stone cannot force itself loose by repeated jolts, or it may split ...
— How to Observe in Archaeology • Various

... to the realization of the manifest inequality and injustice of the relative positions of human beings on earth, providing that the same is thrust arbitrarily upon them; and it would seem that no amount of future reward could possibly equalize or explain these conditions. Unless there be "something back of it all," it would certainly seem that Injustice was manifested. Of course, many argue that the idea of Justice has nothing to do with the universal processes, but all who think of a Divine Being, filled with Love, and Justice, ...
— Reincarnation and the Law of Karma - A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and Effect • William Walker Atkinson

... Damon, but he got no further, for he had to bend his body as Tom did, to equalize the pressure ...
— Tom Swift and his Sky Racer - or, The Quickest Flight on Record • Victor Appleton

... for himself, with the understanding that he was to receive a certain amount, in value, from the commonwealth, by contribution in labour, or in materials. All beyond that amount was to be paid for. To equalize advantages, a tariff was established, as to the value of labour and materials. These materials consisted of lumber, including shingles, stone, lime and bricks; bricks burned, as well as those which were unburned, or ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper

... But this 'ere's different. I—I—wal, I guess I love her some. Oh, I know she's proud and cold and thinks there ain't nothin' in trousers good enough for her. But I'm obstinate and I'm free with my tongue—at times. So we both got our faults. They kinder equalize. Anyway, I love her, and that's good enough excuse for anyone who cares a damn about himself. And there ain't no law on this earth, sir, that says a man can't put a straight proposition to a gal he ...
— Colorado Jim • George Goodchild

... the movements of mankind during the course of the fourteen centuries since the fall of the Roman Empire—a mere fragment of human history—that its progress, however concealed or impeded, and whether for weal or woe, is towards democracy; for it is the tendency of science to liberate and to equalize the physical and even the intellectual forces of humanity. A horse and a suit of armour would now hardly enable the fortunate possessor of such advantages to conquer a kingdom, nor can wealth and learning be monopolised in these latter days by a favoured few. Yet ...
— The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555-1566 • John Lothrop Motley

... overwhelming war-taxes, for the expense of the war, and possibly still recoverable; and that they hold up to all future time a resource within ourselves, ever at the command of government, and competent to any wars into which we may be forced. Nor is it a slight object to equalize taxes through ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... unquestionably the American National Game. Secondly, the splendid display of fielding exhibited by the American ball players has opened the eyes of English cricketers to the important fact that in their efforts to equalize the attack and defense in their national game of cricket, in which they have looked only to certain modifications of the rules governing bowling and batting, they have entirely ignored the important ...
— A Ball Player's Career - Being the Personal Experiences and Reminiscensces of Adrian C. Anson • Adrian C. Anson

... before the real favorites have revealed themselves; that is to say, before the last week preceding the race. The winner of the Omnium is hardly ever a horse of the first rank, and the baron d'Etreilles undertakes to tell us why. The object of the handicap, he says, being to equalize the chances of several horses of different degrees of merit, the handicapper is in a manner obliged to make it next to impossible for the first-rate horses to win; otherwise, the owners of the inferior animals, seeing that they ...
— Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880 • Various

... of estates in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. This division of real property was meant to equalize my sentiments justly between the different portions of my native country. Not satisfied with this, however, I extended the system to the colonies. I had East India shares, a running ship, Canada land, a plantation in Jamaica, sheep at the Cape and at New South Wales, an indigo concern at Bengal, ...
— The Monikins • J. Fenimore Cooper

... is defeated in advance. But if these obstacles are not absolutely insurmountable, being only social conventions and human prejudices, then the hero has a chance to attain his desire,—and in this case, we have the serious drama without an inevitably fatal ending. Change this obstacle a little, equalize the conditions of the struggle, set two wills in opposition—and we have comedy. And if the obstacle is of still a lower order, merely an absurdity of custom, for instance, we find ...
— Writing for Vaudeville • Brett Page

... "that these very people, these very masses of the poor, had all the time the supreme control of the Government and were able, if determined and united, to put an end at any moment to all the inequalities and oppressions of which they complained and to equalize things as we have done. Not only did they not do this, but they gave as a reason for enduring their bondage that their liberties would be endangered unless they had irresponsible masters to manage their interests, and that to take charge of their own affairs would imperil their freedom. ...
— Equality • Edward Bellamy

... force by means of the steam-blast and air-openings. There will be no smoke nuisance, the combustion being complete so far as it takes place at all. There will be no need of loading the furnace with firebrick to equalize the heat,—the mass of incandescent fuel serving that purpose; and no waste or inequality will occur from opening the door to ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. II, No. 8, June 1858 • Various

... friends and acquaintances were accustomed to be in funds. Accordingly, there were houses where his appearance of a morning made people say, not "Here is Monsieur Schaunard," but "This is the first or the fifteenth." To facilitate, and at the same time equalize this species of tax which he was going to levy, when compelled by necessity, from those who were able to pay it to him, Schaunard had drawn up by districts and streets an alphabetical table containing the names of all his acquaintances. Opposite each ...
— Bohemians of the Latin Quarter • Henry Murger

... commission to frame another system. The result was a law of 1906 (April), which separated the shipbuilder from the shipowner. The provisions for the construction bounty were redrawn with the object, as Professor Viallates explains,[CC] "not only to equalize the customs duties affecting the materials employed, but also to give the builders a compensation sufficient to enable them to concede to the French shipowners the same prices as foreign builders." The rates were thus fixed ...
— Manual of Ship Subsidies • Edwin M. Bacon

... a piece of velvet with the bias at the front, same shape as top of crown plus one inch all around. Gather one-fourth inch from edge, place over top, equalize the gathers, pin in place, and sew with stab stitch over line of gathering. Make the edge lie as flat as possible and do not draw velvet too ...
— Make Your Own Hats • Gene Allen Martin

... regions of widely diverse electrical potential, or pressure, just as the readings of the barometer at these two places may differ much. If a copper wire were allowed to offer itself as a gateless conductor it would equalize these variations of potential with serious injury to itself. Accordingly the rule is adopted of working the cable not directly, as if it were a land line, but indirectly through condensers. As the throb sent through such apparatus is but momentary, ...
— Little Masterpieces of Science: - Invention and Discovery • Various

... constancy or inconstancy of employment in them; fourthly, the small or great trust which must be reposed in those who exercise them; and, fifthly, the probability or improbability of success in them."[27] All such differences would be such as "equalize the attractiveness of occupations" ...
— The Settlement of Wage Disputes • Herbert Feis

... word; Yet in mine eyes, my zeal, my truth behold: For to that throne, whereof thy sire was lord, I will restore thee, crown thee with that gold, And if high Heaven would so much grace afford As from thy heart this cloud this veil unfold Of Paganism, in all the east no dame Should equalize thy fortune, ...
— Jerusalem Delivered • Torquato Tasso

... bare-legged youth of about seventeen, without any of those high-sustaining illusions which stirred within my heart—suffered far less either from hunger or weariness than I did. So much for motives. A shilling or two were sufficient to equalize the balance against all the weight of my ...
— Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851. • Various

... American colonies, or whether it shall be suffered and encouraged to take that which will be, and is, its inevitable course, to deluge Great Britain with poverty and wretchedness, and gradually, but certainly, to equalize the state of the English and Irish peasantry. Two different rates of wages, and two different conditions of the labouring classes, cannot permanently co-exist. One of two results appears to be inevitable; ...
— The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 (3rd ed.) (1902) - With Notices Of Earlier Irish Famines • John O'Rourke

... news reached America of what George Peabody, the American, was doing for London, there were many unkind remarks about his having forsaken his native land. To equalize matters Peabody then gave three million dollars, just what he had given to London, for the cause of education in the Southern States. This money was used to establish schoolhouses. Wherever a town raised five hundred dollars for a school Peabody would give a like sum. A million dollars ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 11 (of 14) - Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Businessmen • Elbert Hubbard

... can prove a right, in any man or any body of men, to tyrannize over my conscience. To find a standard to measure space and duration has hitherto baffled all attempts; but to erect a standard to equalize the thoughts of the whole human race is a disposition that is both hateful and absurd. Should you understand the sincerity with which I speak as hostile to yourself, you will do me wrong. Were it in my power ...
— The Adventures of Hugh Trevor • Thomas Holcroft



Words linked to "Equalize" :   change, equal, tally, match, tie, modify, equate, draw, alter, homogenize, homologise, touch, equalizer, rival, score, homologize, equalise, hit, rack up



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