even 
Into small parts. To make even, to square accounts ; 
come out even ; leave nothing owing. 
Since if my smil niukr t'wn with the week, 
Each seventh note by right is due to thee. 
0. Herbert. 
Unevenly even, divisible by 2, but not by 4. = Syn. 1. 
Flat, etc. See level. 
II. n. In the Pythagorean philos., that ele- 
ment of the universe which is represented by 
the even numbers : identified with the unlimit- 
ed and imperfect. 
even 1 (e'vn), adv. [Alsocontr. (dial, and poet.) 
een, ene (usually written e'en) ; < ME. even, evene, 
efne, < AS. efne, even, exactly, just, likewise (= 
OS. efno = OFries. efne, evna, ivin = D. even = 
OHG. ebano, MHG. ebene, eben, G. eben, adv., = 
Sw. afven, even, likewise, also, too), < efen, adj., 
even: see euen!, a.] 1. In an even manner ; so 
as to be even; straight; evenly: as, to run even. 
2f. Straightway; directly. 
He went euen to themperour & enys him sayde, 
Knelyng on his kne curteysli & faire. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1098. 
The jatis [gates of hell] to-burste, and gan to flee, 
God took out Adam and Eue ful euene, 
And alle hise chosen companye. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 62. 
When he swiftly hade sworue to that swete niaidou, 
Thai entrid full evyn into an Inner chamber. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 749. 
2038 
evenlong 
see evening) = OS. dbiiand = OFries. avend, evenfortht, adv. [ME., also coutr. etnforth; < 
ioven, iuven, etc., = D. avond = OHG. abant, even 1 , adv., + forth!.] Straight onward ; even- 
MHG. abent, G. abend, even, evening. The forward. 
Scand. forms are different: Icel. aptan, aftan And thanne y entrid in and even-forth went. 
= Sw. afton = Dan. often, where the vowel has Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. s.), l. 163. 
been shortened and the t inserted, perhaps in even-forward, ndv. Directly forward ; straight 
simulation of Icel. aptr, aftr, etc., back, back onward. [North. Eng.] 
again, behind (= E. aft, after, q. v.), as if the evenhandt (e'vn-hand), n. [< even! + hand.l 
evening were considered as the latter part of Equality or parity of rank or degree, 
the day. The Goth, form is not recorded (the Wll080 is out of hope to attam to anothel ... virtue wiu 
(roth, word for 'evening' IS andanahti, lit. the seek to come at eve.nlmud by depressing another's fortune, 
time toward night). There is nothing to bring Bacon, Envy, 
the word into connection with off', Goth, af, even-handed (e'vn-han"ded), a. [< even! + 
AS. of, etc.] 1. Evening: the earlier word for hand + -ed' 2 .] Impartial; rightly balanced; 
equitable. 
This even-handed justice 
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice 
To our own lips. Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 
O even-handed Nature ! we confess 
This life that men so honor, love, and bless 
Has filled thine olden measure. 
O. W. Holmes, Bryant's Seventieth Birthday, Nov. 3, 1864. 
even-handedly (e'vn-han"ded-li), adv. In an 
even-handed manner ; justly ; impartially. 
even-handedness (e'yn-han"ded-nes), n. The 
state or quality of being even-handed ; impar- 
evening, but now archaic or poetical. 
As falls a Meteor in a Sommer Even, 
A sodain Flash coins flaming down from Heav'n. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Schisme. 
Her tears fell with the dews at even. 
Tennyson, Mariana. 
2. Same as eve!, 2. 
com to Seynt Jol 
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 3. 
Tokyn he Stevene, and stonyd hym in the way ; 
And therefor is his evyn on Crystes owyn day. 
St. Stephen and Herod (Child's Ballads, I. 318). 
Often contracted e'en. 
Good even. Same as good evening (which see, under good). 
3. Just; exactly; at or to the very point; more- even-bishopt(e'vn-bish"pp), . [ME.notfound; 
over; likewise; so much as: used to emphasize AS. efenbisceop (translating ML. coepiscopus), 
or strengthen an assertion: as, he was not sat- < efen, even, equal, + bisceop, bishop.] A co- even-hands (e'vn-handz), adv. [Sc.] On an 
;,,fi,i ,. <-!,.,. ,.., 4.1. j 4. 1, T_ 
tiality; justice. 
Had Smith been the only offender, it might have been 
expected that he would have been gladly sacrificed as an 
evidence of Elizabeth's evenhandedness. 
Froude, Hist. Eng., Reign of Elizabeth, vii. 
isfied even then ; even this was not enough. In 
verse often contracted e'en. 
Lered ne lewed he let no man stonde, 
That he hitte euene that euere stirred after. 
Piers Plowman (B), xx. 102. 
Than asked the kynge Arthur what a-visiouus ben thei, 
and Merlin hym tolde euen as the kynge hadde mette in 
his dreme, that the kynge hyni-self knewe well he seide 
trouthe. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 416. 
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon 
the earth. Gen. vi. 17. 
The Northrcn Ocean even to the frozen Thule was scat- 
ter'd with the proud Ship-wracks of the Spanish Armado. 
Milton, Reformation in Eng.,ii. 
Here all their rage, and e.v'n their murmurs cease. Pope. 
Some observed that, even if they took the town, they 
should not be able to maintain possession of it. 
Irving, Granada, p. 33. 
even 1 (e'vu), v. [< ME. evenen, efnen, emnien, 
make even, level, make equal, compare, < AS. 
efnian, level, i. e., lay prostrate (once, doubt- 
ful), ge-efnian, compare (cf. eninettan, make 
even, regulate, ge-emnettan, make even, level, even-down (e'vn-doun), a. [In Sc. usually 
make equal, compare), < efen, efn, emn, adj., spelled even-doun ; < even!, adv., + doicn 3 , doun. 
>p. . equal footing. Jamieson. 
even-christiant (e'vn-kris"tian), n. [< WE.even- I>8 be even-hands wi' them an' mair, an' then I'll laugh 
cristene, emcristene, -cristen' ( AS. "efencristena at the Ieishe8t ' tnem - u aa, Perils of Man, I. 326. 
(evidenced by the forms evenchristen, emeristen, evenhedet, A variant of evenhood. 
quoted in the Latin version of the laws of Ed- evenhoodt (e'vn-hud), n. Equality ; equity, 
ward the Confessor, 36) (= OFries. ivinkers- evening (ev'ning), n. and a. [< ME. evening, 
tena, evnkristena = OHG. ebanchristani, MHG. evenyng, < AS. cefnung (rare), evening, < cefen, 
ebenkristen; in G. expressed by mit-christ), < even, + -ting, E. -ing 1 : see even 2 and. -ing!.] J_ 
efen, equal, + cristena, Christian: see even! an( j n. 1. The latter part and close of the day, and 
the beginning of darkness or night ; the decline 
or fall of the day, or of the sun ; the time from 
sunset till darkness ; in common usage, the lat- 
ter part of the afternoon and the earlier part of 
the night before bedtime. 
The evening and the morning were the first day. Gen. i. 6. 
Now came still evening on, and twilight gray 
Had in her sober livery all things clad. 
Milton, P. L., iv. 698. 
And now you are happily arrived to the evening of a day 
as serene as the dawn of it was glorious ; but such an 
evening as, I hope, and almost prophecy, is far from night ; 
it is the evening of a summer's sun, which keeps a daylight 
long within the skies. Dryden, Mock Astrologer, Ded. 
christen, Christian!.] Fellow-Christian ; neigh- 
bor, in the Scriptural sense. 
He that hath desdayn of his neighebour, that is to seyn, 
of his evencristen. Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
Do non yuel to thine euenecrystene nougt by thi powere. 
Purs Plowman (B), xiii. 104. 
This gospel tellith bi a parable how eche man shulde 
love his evencristene. 
Wyclif, Select Works (ed. Arnold), I. 31. 
And the more pity, that great folk should have counte- 
nance in this world to drown or hang themselves, more 
than their even Christian. Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 
mute rcuuiu, uuiiipitrtj (, \ ettiH, viii, entn, am., ' \ ct/c-, t/., -r uvti-tt" ,uvttn. TT~ o mu ^ T i A.. j. 
even: seWel, a,] I. trans. 1. To make even Ct. downright.-] 1. Perpendicular; downright: Hence -2. The decline or latter part of any 
i i . i i . i__. . _it_ r,,'n^ . !, j ~ .. T j- 11' * _. ^ state or term ot existence : as. the fwei,nn nr 
or level; level; lay smooth. 
This temple Xerxes evened with the soil. 
Raleigh, Hist. World. 
It will even all inequalities. Evelyn. 
ligation, or in a state in which nothing is due 
on either side; balance, as accounts. 
Nothing . . . shall content my soul, 
Till I am even' A with him, wife for wife 
Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 
3. To equal; compare; bring into comparison, 
as one thing with another ; connect or associ- 
ate, as one thing or person with another: as, 
such a charge can never be evened to me. 
The multitude of the Percienes, quod he, may nogte be 
specifically applied to a heavy fall of rain. 
The rain, which had hitherto fallen at intervals, in an 
undecided manner, now burst forth in what in Scotland is 
emphatically called an even-down pour. 
Miss Ferrier, Inheritance, II. xvi. 
2. Downright; direct; plain; flat: as, an even- 
down lie. 
This I ken likewise, that what I say is the even-doun 
ttb. Gait, Entail, II. 119. 
3. Mere ; sheer. 
Oh what a moody moralist you grow ! 
Yet in the even-down letter you are right 
Sir 11. Taylor, Ph. van Artevelde, I., 
But gentlemen, an' ladies warst, 
Wi' ev'n-doun want o' wark are curst. 
. 10. 
Burns, The Twa Dogs. 
evend to the multitude of the Grekes, for'sewrly we are evanpll Ce-vpn') i 
mathanthay. MS. Lincoln, A. i. 17, fol. 19. (UalKwell.) gee ( LU 1 ] | T ' 
God never thought this world a portion worthy of you 
he would not even you to a gift of dirt and clay. 
Rutherford, Letters, vi. 
Would ony Christian even yon bit object to a bonny 
sonsy, weel-faurd young woman like Miss Catliue? 
Lockhart, Reginald Dalton, III. 119. 
4f. To act up to; keep pace with. 
But we'll even 
All that good time will give us. 
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 4. 
Il.t intrans. To be or become even; have or 
come to an equality in any respect ; range, di- 
vide, settle, etc., evenly : followed by with. 
A like strange observation taketh place here as at Stone- 
lenge, that a redoubled numbering never eveneth with the 
11. Carew, Survey of Cornwall. 
To Westminster, where all along I flnd the shops even- 
ing mth the sides of the houses, even in the broadest 
streets ; which will make the City very much better than it 
was. 
To happen. 
How often and frequently doth it evene, that after the 
love of God hath gained the dominion and upper-hand in 
the soul of man, that he is resolved to live well and re- 
ligiously. Heivyt, Sermons (1658), p. 83. 
evene 2 t, adv. See even!. 
evener (e'vn-er), n. [< even!, Vf> + ^-i.j i 
A person or thing that makes even, as a stick 
with which to push off an excess of grain from 
state or term of existence: as, the evening of 
life ; the evening of his power. 
He was a person of great courage, honour, and fidelity 
and not well known till his evening. 
Clarendon, Of the Earl of Northampton. 
3. The time between noon and dark, including 
afternoon and twilight. [Eng. and southern 
U- S.] 4f. The deli very at evening of a certain 
portion of grass or corn to a customary tenant. 
Eennett. 
II. a. Being, or occurring at, or associated 
with the close of day : as, the evening sacrifice. 
Soon as the evening shades prevail, 
The moon takes up the wondrous tale. 
Addison, Ode. 
Those evening bells ! those evening bells ! 
How many a tale their music tells ! 
Moore, Those Evening Bells. 
Evening flower, a bulbous plant from the Cape of Good 
Hope, of the genus llesperantha : so called because the 
flowers expand in the early evening. Evening gun 
See nun. Evening hymn. Same as even-song, 2. 
Evening primrose. See primrose. Evening star, a 
bright planet, as Venus or Jupiter, seen in the west af- 
ter sunset. Venus is the evening star during alternate 
periods of 292 days; Jupiter is usually considered as the 
evening star for some months before conjunction, which 
occurs once in 398 days ; and Mercury is the evening star 
when it can be seen at its eastern elongation. 
beam; a raivel or raithe ; the comb which guides 
the threads with precision on to the beam. 
[Scotch.] 3. In vehicles, same as equalizing- 
bar (b) (which see, under bar!). 
evening-song to be sung about twelve o'clock. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 692. 
If the farmer wishes to carry a heavy load, he must bar- OVenlightt, n. [ME. evenlight, evenelygth, < AS. 
"^*^&t^M^*^M2^%!!2 &* ,<= , ^endlicht), < Sfen, even, + 
Evened with W. Hewer for my expenses upon the road 
this last journey. Pepys, Diary, III. 275. 
even 2 (e'vn), n. [Also contr. (dial, and poet ) 
een, ene (usually written e'en), and abbr. eve (see 
eve!) ; < ME. even, efen, reven, cefen, also abbr. 
eve, < AS. (efen (the deriv. form Sfniing is rare : 
ican evene,: F. ff.fltoSta* AndovVrtev^vm^T ****> W&1 The light of evening; 'twilight. 
Pepys, Diary, 11. 9. eve nfall (e'vn-fal), n. [< even^ + fall] The A ^ ne 8 <* e , b i dt me 8 awav ' 
fall of evening; early evening; twilight. [Poet- 
ical.] 
Alas for her that met me, 
That heard me softly call. 
Came glimmering thro' the laurels 
At the quiet evenfall. 
Tennyson, Maud, xxvi. 11. 
Ail sey it is ferr in the nyght, 
And I swere it is evenliaht. 
MS. Cantab., Ff. i. c, fol. 66. (Ballimll.) 
evenliket, adv. An obsolete form of evenly. 
evenliness (e'vn-li-nes), n. Equality. Fairfai. 
evenlongt (e'vn-16ng), adr. Along in the same 
line. Wright. 
