Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EQ'UI-TA-BLE, a. [Fr. equitable, from L. æquitas, from æquus, equal.]

1. Equal in regard to the rights of persons; distributing equal justice; giving each his due; assigning to one or more what law or justice demands; just; impartial. The more judge does justice by an equitable decision. The court will make an equitable distribution of the estate.
2. Having the disposition to do justice, or doing justice; impartial; as, an equitable judge.
3. Held or exercised in equity, or with chancery powers; as, the equitable jurisdiction of a court. Kent.

EQ'UI-TA-BLE-NESS, n.

1. The quality of being just and impartial; as, the equitableness of a judge.
2. Equity; the state of doing justice, or distributing to each wording to his legal or just claims; as, the equitableness of decision or distribution of property.

EQ'UI-TA-BLY, adv.

In an equitable manner; justly; impartially. The laws should be equitably administered.

EQ'UI-TAN-GEN'TIAL, a.

In geometry, denoting the tangent of a curve equal to a constant line. Knowles.

EQ'UI-TANT, a. [L. equitans, equito, to ride, from eques, a horseman, or equus, a horse.]

In botany, such a situation of unexpanded leaves in a leaf bud, that they overlap each other entirely, and in a parallel manner, without any involution.

EQ-UI-TA'TION, n.

A riding on horseback. Barrow.

EQ'UI-TY, n. [L. æquitas, from æquus, equal, even, level; Fr. equité; It. equità.]

1. Justice; right. In practice, equity is the impartial distribution of justice, or the doing that to another which the laws of God and man, and of reason, give him a right to claim. It is the treating of a person according to justice and reason. The Lord shall judge the people with equity. Ps. xcviii. With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity. Is. xi.
2. Justice; impartiality; a just regard to right or claim; as, we must in equity allow this claim.
3. In law, an equitable claim. I consider the wife's equity to be too well settled to be shaken. Kent.
4. In jurisprudence, the correction or qualification of law, when too severe or defective; or the extension of the words of the law to cases not expressed, yet coming within the reason of the law. Hence a court of equity or chancery, is a court which corrects the operation of the literal text of the law, and supplies its defects, by reasonable construction and by rules of proceeding and deciding, which are not admissible in a court of law. Equity then is the law of reason, exercised by the chancellor or judge, giving remedy in cases to which the courts of law are not competent. Blackstone.
5. Equity of redemption, in law, the advantage, allowed to a mortgager, of a reasonable time to redeem lands mortgaged, when the estate is of greater value than the sum for which it was mortgaged. Blackstone.

E-QUIV'A-LENCE, n. [L. æquus, equal, and valens, from valeo, to be worth.]

1. Equality of value; equal value or worth. Take the goods and give an equivalence in corn.
2. Equal power or force. [To equivalence, a verb used by Brown, has not gained currency.]

E-QUIV'A-LENCE, v.t.

To be equal to. Brown.

E-QUIV'A-LENC-ED, pp.

Equaled in weight, &c.

E-QUIV'A-LENC-ING, ppr.

Equaling in value, weight, &c.

E-QUIV'A-LENT, a.

1. Equal in value or worth. In barter, the goods given are supposed to be equivalent to the goods received. Equivalent in value or worth, is tautological.
2. Equal in force, power or effect. A steam engine may have force or power equivalent to that of thirty horses.
3. Equal in moral force, cogency or effect on the mind. Circumstantial evidence may be almost equivalent to full proof.
4. Of the same import or meaning. Friendship and amity are equivalent terms. For now to serve and to minister, servile and ministerial, are terms equivalent. South. Equivalent propositions in logic are called also equipolent.
5. Final in excellence or moral worth. Milton.

E-QUIV'A-LENT, n.

1. That which is equal in value, weight, dignity, or force, with something else. The debtor can not pay his creditor in money, but he will pay him an equivalent. Damages in money can not be an equivalent for the loss of a limb.
2. In chimistry, equivalent is the proportion expressing the weight or quantity of any substance which combines with another substance to form a definite compound. It is often called chimical equivalent, or combining proportion.

E-QUIV'A-LENT-LY, adv.

In an equal manner.

E'QUI-VALVE, n.

A bivalve when the two valves are of equal size and form.

E-QUIV'O-CA-CY, n.

Equivocalness. [Not used.] Brown.

E-QUIV'O-CAL, a. [Low L. æquivocus; æquus, equal, and vox, a word; Fr. equivoque; It. equivocale. See Vocal.]

1. Being of doubtful signification; that may be understood in different senses; capable of a double interpretation; ambiguous; as, equivocal words, terms or senses. Men may be misled in their opinions by the use of equivocal terms.
2. Doubtful; ambiguous; susceptible of different constructions; not decided. The character of the man is somewhat equivocal. His conduct is equivocal.
3. Uncertain; proceeding from some unknown cause, or not from the usual cause. Equivocal generation is the production of animals without the intercourse of the sexes, and of plants without seed. This doctrine is now exploded.

E-QUIV'O-CAL, n.

A word or term of doubtful meaning, or capable of different meanings. Dennis.

E-QUIV'O-CAL-LY, adv.

1. Ambiguously; in a doubtful sense; in terms susceptible of different senses. He answered the question equivocally.
2. By uncertain birth; by equivocal generation. Bentley.

E-QUIV'O-CAL-NESS, n.

Ambiguity; double meaning. Norris.

E-QUIV'O-CATE, v.i. [It. equivocare; Fr. equivoquer. See Equivocal.]

To use words of a doubtful signification; to express one's opinions in terms which admit of different senses; to use ambiguous expressions. To equivocate is the dishonorable work of duplicity. The upright man will not equivocate in his intercourse with his fellow men.

E-QUIV'O-CA-TING, pp.

Using ambiguous words or phrases.

E-QUIV-O-CA'TION, n.

Ambiguity of speech; the use of words or expressions that are susceptible of a double signification. Hypocrites are often guilty of equivocation, and by this means lose the confidence of their fellow men. Equivocation is incompatible with the Christian character and profession.

E-QUIV'O-CA-TOR, n.

One who equivocates; one who uses language which is ambiguous and may be interpreted in different ways; one who uses mental reservation.

E-QUIV'O-CA-TO-RY, a.

Savoring of equivocation.