evasion 
2. A means uf avoidance or escape; an eva- 
sive. or elusive contrivance; a subterfuge; a 
shift. 
He speaks unseasonable Truths snmetimcs, because lie 
has mil \N it enough l<i invent an Ki-ti*i/t. 
Ciiii.ir.-rr, Way ot the World, i. 8. 
He is likewise to teach him the art "f llnding flaws, loop 
holes, and edition*, in the most solemn compacts. 
s,i.;-i,ii,,r, No. :;o;,. 
Are we to say, with the great Ixidy of Latin casuist-. 
that, while equivocations and eeariuni of all kinds are per- 
missihle, a cio\\ nrivrht talsehnoil can never lie excused? 
//. -V. Ojtfiihiiin, Short Studies, p. 100. 
He . . . answered eeasice of the sly request. 
J'ojte. 
2037 
I remember one Christmas /><' in the aftcrncxm passing 
one of those places, antl HI -.'inn tin- porter putting up Un- 
shUttcrs, IhinkilU-slllllConcliad died Mlddcnl.V, I inqlllled 
what was ib.- matter. A. "ml <J., 7th SIT., II. 60S. 
3. The period just preceding some specific 
event ; a space of time proximate to the occur- 
rence of something: as, the eve of a battle ; on 
the ere of a revolution. 
The French seem to be at the eve of taklnx Antwerp 
anil Brussels, the latter of which is actually besieged. 
Walpole, Letters, II. 5. 
r.ohus is upon the ept of his return [from India], and I 
rather think we shall see him In the sprint:. 
Smith, TII I. a>ly Holland, vl. 
. , . . 
e\prcs artful or dishonorable minlcsui' escaping from be 
in;; frustrated or fouml out. The tirst three imply the use of 
laiij,Mia',<c ; *'"/' ami milil.'ffu.i.' may he hy words or actions. 
Km.,;. .n in speech may be simply avoiding, as hy turning 
tlie eonversaliou or meeting one question witli another. 
h'>liiit:>cafit>n is usiri^ words in double and deceptive senses. 
Prevarication may he in action, but is properly understood 
to he in words ; it includes all tricks of language that fall 
short of downright falsehood ; it is, literally, a stepping 
on lioiii sides of the truth; the word Is a strong one. 
All these words convey opprobrium in proportion to the 
amount uf insincerity implied. Shift and subterfuge may 
he modes of evasion; shift, a thing turned to as a mean 
expedient, a trick; mtbterfuye, a place of hiding, hence an 
artittce. Shift does not necessarily express a dishonorable 
course, and evattiun and subterfuge are often lightly used. 
See artijice and expedient, n. 
This detached and insulated form of delivering thoughU 
[in aphorisms] was in effect, an evasion of all the difficul- 
ties connected with composition. be Quinceji, Style, ii. 
I ... begin 
To doubt the equivocation of the liend, 
That lies like truth. Slink., Macbeth, v. 5. 
I'h august tribunal of the skies, 
Where no prevarication shall avail, 
Where eloquence and artitlee shall fail, . . . 
And conscience and our conduct judge us all. 
Cowper, Retirement, 1. 657. 
For little souls on little shift* rely, 
And cowards' arts of mean expedients try. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, 1. 2217. 
We may observe how a persecuting spirit in the times 
drives the greatest men to take refuge in the meanest 
arts of subterfuge. I. D' Israeli, Calam. of Authors, II. 276. 
evasive (e-va'siv), . [= F. evasif= Sp. Pg. 
It. evasico, < L. evatitui, pp. of evadere, evade : 
see evade.'} 1. Using evasion or artifice to 
avoid; shuffling; equivocating. 
2. Containing or characterized by evasion; 
artfully contrived for escape or elusion: as, an 
' answer; an erasive argument. 
He received very evasiiv and ambiguous answers. 
Goldsmith, Bolingbroke. 
Evasive arts will, it is feared, prevail, so long as distilled 
spirits of any kind are allowed. Bp. Berkeley, Sirls, f 107. 
3. Escaping the grasp or observation; not 
easily seized or comprehended; faintly or in- 
distinctly perceived; elusive; vanishing: as, 
an entsire thought or idea; evasive colors. 
Above the cities of the plain the tender 
/>'<>/'< strains dropt gently from the sky. 
C. De Kay, Vision of Nimrod, vl. 
evasively (e-va'siv-li), adv. By evasion or 
equivocation ; in a manner to avoid a direct 
rep^ly or charge. 
I answered fra*icel<j, or at least indeterminately. 
Br 
yant. 
evasiveness (o-va'siV-nes), . The quality or 
state of being evasive. 
evatt, a- Same as evet, cffet, etc., uucontracted 
forms of cl't ' . 
eve 1 (ev), n. [< ME. eoe, a common form of ecen, 
tlu> final n, prop, belonging to the stem, being 
often regarded as inflectional, and dropped: see 
ecen 2 .] 1. The close of the day; the evening. 
[Poetical.] 
From morn 
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve. 
Milton, P. L., i. 7)::. 
Winter oft at eve resumes the bree/- . Thornton. 
2. The night or evening (often, and specifi- 
cally in the Roman Catholic Church, the day 
and night) before certain holy days of the 
church, marked more or less generally by re- 
ligious and popular observances. The religious 
observance usually consists of a servic ..... ih. : ui.l in the 
Church of Knuland of the reading of the collect peculiar 
to the festival. (See vifiii.) Technically, an eve is not 
observed with a fast. Also even, 
Let the immediate preceding day be kept as the eve to 
this jn-eat feast. 
Bp. Duppa, Rules and Helps of Devotion. 
Iiifonnei inn. , it was customary in London, and in other 
>,Teat cities i.> set the Midsummer watch upon the eve of 
v ;iint John the Haptisi : and this was usually performed 
with great pomp and pageantry. 
*!rutt t Sporta and Pastimes, p. 464. 
eve 1 (ev), v. i.; pret. and pp. eved, ppr. eviug. 
[< ere 1 , .] To become damp. [Prov. Eng.] 
eve 2 (e v), n. [Appar. < eres, early form of tares, 
sing, taken as plural : see eaves.'] A hen-roost. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
eve-churr (ev'cher), n. The night-jar or night- 
churr, Cajirimulgus europteus. [Local, Eng.] 
evecket, evicket (ev'ek, -ik), n. [A doubtful 
form, appar. based on L. ibex (ibic-) ( > OF. i/v< , 
8p. ibiee, etc.), an ibex: see ibex.} A species 
of wild goat. 
Which archer-like (as long before he took his hidden 
tend, 
The eeicke skipping from a rock) into the breast he smote. 
Chapman, Iliad, iv. 122. 
evectant (e-vek'tant), n. [< *eveet (in enaction) 
+ -ant."] In ma tit., a contra variant considered 
as generated by operating upon a covariant or 
contravariant with an evector. 
evecticst (e-vek'tiks), . [< L. crectus, pp. 
of etehere, carry out or away: see erection.] 
That department of medicine which teaches 
the method of acquiring a good habit of body. 
Orabb. 
evection (e-vek'shon), . [= Y. evection = 8p. 
eveccion, < LL. ecectio(n-), a carrying upward, 
a flight, < L. evehere, carry out or forth, lift up. 
< e, out, + vehere, carry: see vehicle, vector.] 
It. The act of carrying out or away; a lifting 
up; exaltation. 
His [Joseph's] being taken out of the dungeon repre- 
sented Christ's resurrection, as his rteetion to the power 
of Egypt, next to Pharaoh, signified the session of Christ 
at the right hand of the Father. 
Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, v. 
2. In nstrou.: (a) The second lunar inequality, 
described by Ptolemy. It comes to its maximum 
value at the quadratures, and disappears at the conjunc- 
tions and oppositions. Ptolemy accounted for it by sup- 
posing that the apogee of the moon's orbit or deferent 
of its epicycle recedes to the west at a uniform angular 
rate uf 11" '2 per diem, while the center of the epicycle 
advances to the east at a uniform angular rate of motion 
about the earth of 13* 11', the mean sun always bisect* 
ing the arc of the zodiac between the lunar apogee and 
the center of the lunar epicycle. This theory represented 
. the longitudes with remarkable accuracy, but was ut- 
terly inconsistent with the most obvious observations re- 
specting the moon's apparent diameter. According to 
modern astronomy, the evection is a perturbation of the 
moon by the sun, due to the fact that the sun tends to 
separate the moon and the earth by attracting more the 
nearer body. It thus exaggerates the effect of the ec- 
centricity of the moon's orbit when the transverse axis 
of the latter lies near the line of syzygies. (ft) The 
moon's libration Evection of heat*, the diffusion 
of heated particles through a fluid in the process of heat- 
ing it ; convection. 
evectional (e-vek'shqn-al), . [< evection + 
-..] Relating or belonging to the evection. 
evector (e-vek'tor), n. [NL. erector, < L. eve- 
here, pp. 'ecectus, 'carry out: see evection.'] In 
IIHI th., an operative quantic formed by replacing 
the coefficients of a quautic a, nb,in(n l)c, 
etc., by il'iln. ci/db, dldc, etc., and the facients 
of the quantio by the indeterminate coefficients 
of an adjoint linear form. 
eveling (ev'ling), n. A dialectal corruption of 
ii'i-iiiiiii. [Prov. Eng.] 
evelongt, . A Middle English variant of tire- 
long. 
Eyemydoidse (ov'e-mi-doi'de), n. pi. [NL., < 
Gr. ev. well, + e/itf, the water-tortoise, + n'owr, 
form.] In L. Agassiz's classification of tor- 
toises, a subfamily of his Emydoidte, contain- 
ing the box-tortoise of Europe and similar spe- 
cies, having a movable hinged plastron and lit- 
tle webbed toes. 
even 1 (e'vn), n. and . [< ME. erea, evin, efen, 
sometimes, esp. in inflection, emn (in comp. 
ii'i a-, cm-), < AS. efen, often, esp. in inflection, 
contr. efn, emn = OS. ebhan = OFries. i-rrn. ii-in 
= D. even = OHO. eban, MHG. G. eben = Icel. 
jnj'ii, jiiiiin = Sw. jiiiini s= Dan. jcevn = Goth. 
ibns, even; prob. connected with Goth. //;/>. 
adj., back, backward, and perhaps with ebb, q. 
v.J I. a. 1. Level, plane, or smooth; hence, 
not rough or irregular; free from inequalities, 
even 
irregularities, or obstructions: as, even ground : 
an even surface. 
First, If all obstacles were cut away, 
Xml that my path were even to the down. 
Sh.ik., Rich. III. .ill. 7. 
Smooth and trm as an ivory ball. 
Courper, Anti Tlielypthora, 1. 47. 
At last they issued from the world of wood, 
And climb d upon a fair and nvn ridge. 
Tennyton, Oeralnt. 
2. Uniform in action, character, or quality; 
equal or equable; unvarying; unwavering: as, 
an even temper ; to hold an even course. 
And yet for all that, liowc men a mind did shee beare, 
how humble opinion she had of hersetfe also. 
I'l'rM, Instruction of Christian Women, 1. 10. 
There shall be a resurrection of the body ; and that Is 
the last thing that shall be done in heaven ; for after that 
there Is nothing but an rim continuance In equal glory. 
Dunne, Sermons, xvlll. 
Prosperity follows the execution of even justice. 
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., Int. 
3. Situated on a level, or on the same level; 
being in the same line or plane ; parallel ; con- 
sentaneous; accordant: followed by with. 
For the days shall come upon tin c, that thine enemies 
. . . shall lay thee r.reu with the ground. Luke xix. 43, 44. 
Not wholly eleuated from the Horizon ; but all the way 
the nether part of the Sun seeming iust and euen U'ith it. 
Purehai, Pilgrimage, p. 433. 
There nought hath pass'd, 
But even with law, against the wilful sons 
Of old Andronicus. Shak., Tit. And., ir. 4. 
4. On an equality in any respect; on an equal 
level or footing; of equal or the same measure 
or quantity; in an equivalent state or condi- 
tion; equally balanced or adjusted: as, our ac- 
counts are even ; an eren chance ; an even bar- 
gain ; letters of even date ; to get even with an 
antagonist. 
I am too high, and thou too low. Our minds are errn 
yet. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. . 
5. Plain to comprehension ; lucid; clear. 
I have promis'd to make all this matter eren. . . . 
To make these doubts all ITCH. 
slink:. As you Like U, v. 4. 
6. Without fractional parts ; neither more nor 
less ; entire ; unbroken : as, an even mile ; an 
even pound or quart ; an eren hundred or thou- 
sand. 7. Divisible, as a number, by 2: thus, 
2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, are even numbers: opposed to 
odd, as 1, 3, etc. See evenly even, unevenly even, 
below. 
Let him tell me whether the number of the stars is eren 
or odd. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living. 
The army that presents a front of even numbers is called 
the '''" hoste, and the other the odd hoste. 
S(r, Sports and Pastimes, p. 414. 
8. Without projecting parts; having all the 
ends terminating in the same plane : in ornithol- 
ogy, said of the tail of a bird all the feathers of 
which are of equal length. 
The edge [of a book in gilding] should be scraped quite 
flat and perfectly even. Workshop Receipts, IV. 245. 
9. Iii entom., plane; horizontal, flat, and not 
deflexed at the margins: applied especially to 
the elytra when they form together a plane sur- 
face, and to the wings when they are extend- 
ed horizontally in repose. \_Even was formerly 
used in composition with the sense of felloic- 
or co-. See even-Christian, even-bishop, even-ser- 
vant.] Even chance. See chance. Even function. 
See function.-- Evenly even, divisible by 4. Even or 
Odd, a very old game of chance played with coins or any 
small pieces. See the extract. Now commonly called odd 
or even. 
The play consists in one person concealing In his hand 
a number of any small pieces, and another calling eren or 
odd at his pleasure ; the pieces are then exposed, and the 
victory is decided by counting them ; if they correspond 
with the call, the hider loses ; if the contrary, of course 
he wins. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 493. 
Even page, in printin;i, a left-hand page of a printed 
book, which bears an even number, as 2, 4, etc. On 
an even keeL See keel. On even ground, on equally 
favorable terms ; having equal advantages : as, the advo- 
cates meet on even ground in argument.- To be even 
with, to have retaliated upon ; to have squared accounts 
with. 
Mahomet . . . determined with himselfe at once to be 
even with them [the Venetians] for all, and to Imploy his 
whole forces both by sea and land for the gaining of that 
place [the Island of Euboea]. Knolles, Hist Turks, p. 405. 
Literature ico* eren with them [the Roundheads), as, in 
the long run, it always is with its enemies. 
Macaulay, Milton. 
To get even with, to retaliate upon ; square accounts 
with. To make even, make even lines, or end even, 
in titpe-settinfj, to space out a "take" or piece of copy so 
us to make the last line full when it is not the end of a 
paragraph. Hence the widely spaced lines immediately 
followed hy more closely spaced ones often seen in news- 
papers, resulting from the necessary division of the work 
