level 
It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of words that 
come . . . from you, can thrust me from a level consider- 
ation (of the justice of a cause]. 
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., 11. 1. 124. 
8. Well-balanced ; of good judgment : as, a level 
head. [Colloq. or slang, U. S.] 
There is a strong suspicion among men whose heads are 
level that this . . . performance is a bluff. 
Bret Harte, Gabriel Conroy, xxxix. 
Level crossing. Same as grade-crossing (which see, un- 
der crossing). Level surface. Same as equipolential sur- 
face (which see, under equipotential). To do one's level 
best, to do one's utmost. [Slang, U. S.] 
"Now you have a position in society, you must assist in 
allgood objects." . . . I said, "I'll do my Level Best, Doc- 
tor." E. E. Hale, His Level Best. 
=Syn. 1 and 2. Level, Flat, Even. In regard to the sur- 
face of land, fiat is a depreciative word, indicating low- 
ness or unattractiveness, or both ; level conveys no slur, 
and is entirely consistent with beauty: us. flat marshes; 
level prairies. Flat is a rather more absolute word than 
level. That which is flat or level is parallel to the horizon ; 
that which is even is free from inequalities : as, an even 
slope. 
level 1 (lev'el), . ; pret. and pp. leveled or lev- 
elled, ppr. leveling or levelling. [< level 1 , .] I. 
trans. 1. To make horizontal; bring in to a plane 
parallel to the horizon, as by the use of a level- 
ing-instrument : as, to level a billiard-table. 
2. To reduce or remove inequalities of surface 
in; make even or smooth: as, to level a road 
or walk. 3. To reduce or bring to the same 
height as something else; lay flat; especially, 
to bring down to the ground ; prostrate. 
All things were levelled by the deluge. 
Bacon, Physical Fables, ix. 
4. To reduce to equality of condition, state, 
or degree ; bring to a common level or standing 
in any respect: as, to level ranks of society. 
To level him with a headborough, beadle, or watchman, 
were but little better than he is ; constable I'll able him. 
Middleton, Changeling, i. 2. 
This sense of mankind is so far from a levelling princi- 
ple that it only sets us upon a true basis of distinction, 
and doubles the merit of such as become their condition. 
Steele, Tatler, No. 69. 
5. To direct to an object, in a particular line, 
or toward a purpose ; point or aim. 
For all his minde on honour fixed is, 
To which he levels all his purposis. 
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 772. 
The setting sun . . . 
Against the eastern gate of Paradise 
Levell'd his evening rays. Milton, P. L., iv. 543. 
Such is the clamour of rooks, daws, and kites, 
Th* explosion of the levell'd tube excites. 
Cowper, Hope, 1. 350. 
6. To adapt ; suit ; proportion : as, to level ob- 
servations to the capacity of children. 7. In 
sun., to find the level or the relative elevation 
of by observation or measurement. 
An ancient river-bed in the desert . . . will soon be 
levelled throughout its extent, and the conflict of opinion 
be settled by ... a careful survey. Science, VI. 516. 
8. In dyeing, to make smooth and uniform. 
See level 1 , a., 4. 
This liquid [tartar] is employed by some dyers for level- 
ling certain colours. W. Crookes, Dyeing, etc. , p. 549. 
To level down or up, to lower or raise to the same level 
or status to level up being used specifically of raising a 
lower person or class to the level of a higher. 
Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as them- 
selves ; but they cannot bear levelling^ up to themselves. 
Johnson, in Boswell, an. 1763. 
=Syn. 3. To raze, destroy, demolish. 
fl. intrans. 1. To be in the same direction 
with something; be aimed. [Rare.] 
He to his engine flew, . . . 
And rais'd it till it levdi'd right 
Against the glow-worm tail of kite. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, II. iii. 443. 
2. To point a weapon at the mark ; take aim: 
as, he leveled and fired; hence, to direct a pur- 
pose; aim. 
Thou louely Venus : 
With thy blind boy that almost neuer misses, 
But hits our hartes when he leuels at vs. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 147. 
Ambitious York did level at thy crown. 
SM-.,3Hen. VI., ii. 2. 19. 
He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye ; 
Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky. 
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 129. 
8f. To conjecture ; attempt to guess. 
So cunning that you can leuell at the dispositions of 
women whom you neuer knew. 
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 289. 
Bravest at the last, 
She levell'd at our purposes, and, being royal, 
Took her own way. Shak., A. and C., v. 2. 339. 
4. To accord; agree; suit. [Rare.] 
Such accommodation and besort 
As levels with her breeding. 
Shak., Othello, i. 3. 239. 
3426 
5. To work with a leveling-instrument ; make 
the observations necessary for constructing a 
profile or vertical section of any line on the 
earth's surface, or for ascertaining the differ- 
ence of elevation between two or more stations. 
Ievel 2 t, v. A corruption of levy 1 . 
From taking leuell by vnlawfull measure. 
Breton, Pasqufi's Precession, p. 8. (Dames.) 
level-coilt (lev'el-koil), n. [Formerly also 
levell-coyle; an accom. form of OF. leve-eul, a 
game so called (see the def.), < lever, raise, + 
cul, buttock (< L. eulus, the posteriors) ; lever le 
cul, in slang use, rise.'] 1. An old Christmas 
game in which one player hunted another, the 
loser giving up his seat to the winner. 
May we play not Levet-coyl [read level-coyl}1 I have 
not patience to stay till another match be made. 
Shuffling [etc.] in a Game at Picquet (1659), p. 6. 
Hence 2. Riotous sport of any kind. 
Young Justice Bramble has kept level coyl 
Here in our quarters, stole away our daughter. 
B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, Hi. 2. 
Tav. How now ! what coil is here? 
Black. Level-con, you see, every man's pot. 
Beau, and Fl. (?), Faithful Friends, i. 2. 
level-dyeing (lev'el-dl"ing), . The process 
of dyeing evenly where, from the great affinity 
between the goods and the dye, the portion first 
dyed would absorb too much coloring matter. 
It is \isually accomplished by adding to the bath a quan- 
tity of crystallized sulphate of soda (Glauber's salts). 
leveler, leveller (lev'el-er), n. 1. One who 
levels or makes even; one who or that which 
brings or reduces to a level, or destroys by lev- 
eling: as, time is the great leveler. 2. One 
who desires or strives to bring men to a common 
level; one who would level social distinctions, 
or who disregards differences of rank or status. 
Its structure strongly proves the truth of the maxim 
that princes are true levellers real republicans among 
themselves. Brougham. 
3. [cop.] One of a party which arose in the 
army of the Long Parliament about 1647. They 
professed a determination to level all ranks and establish 
equality in titles and estates throughout the kingdom. 
They were put down by Fairfax. 
They were termed levellers upon a pretended principle 
which they espoused, to endeavour to obtain such an equal 
righteous distribution of justice in government to all de- 
grees of people that it should not be in the power of the 
highest to oppress their inferiors, nor should the meanest 
of the people be out of capacity to arrive at the greatest 
office and dignity in the state. Baker, Charles II. , an. 1649. 
4. A screw or other device fitted to the leg of a 
billiard-table or to any piece of apparatus for 
adjusting the table or apparatus to a true level. 
5. An earth-scraper. 
levelesst, A variant of leaveless 1 . 
level-headed (lev'el-hed // ed), a. Sensible; 
shrewd. [Colloq. or slang.] 
It is to be regretted that the State Department loses the 
services of so competent and level-headed a chief. 
The American, XIV. 341. 
levei 
leven 
with the pins and eccentric disks, the frame is quickly 
and accurately bent to the form of the trace, 
leveling-instrument (lev'el-ing-in"stro-ment), 
. An instrument for use in surveying, of dif- 
or pla 
art or operation of ascertaining the different 
elevations of objects on the surface of the earth; 
the art or practice of finding how much any 
assigned point on the earth's surface included 
in a survey is higher or lower than another as- 
signed point. It is a branch of surveying of great im- 
portance in making roads, determining the proper lines for 
railways, conducting water, draining low grounds, render- 
ing rivers navigable, forming canals, and the like. The 
point. The observer then goes forward with his instru- 
ment for a convenient distance, makes his telescope level, 
and directs the rod-man to raise or lower the target until 
it is at the height of the telescope. This is called a back- 
sight. The height of the target on the rod is now read. 
The other rod has meantime been carried forward, and is 
observed in the same manner. This is called & fore-sight. 
The instrument is now carried forward and a back-sight 
is made on the last rod. When a bench-mark or other 
terminus is reached, all the fore-sights are added toge- 
ther, as well as all the back-sights, and the difference of 
the sums is the difference of elevation. 
leveling-block (lev'el-ing-blok), w. In iron 
ship-building, a cast-iron platform made up of 
large rectangular castings having as many 
holes with centers from four to five inches 
apart cast in them as the castings can contain. 
The faces of the blocks are level. Pins with eccentric 
disks fitted to their heads are inserted into the holes. The 
disks have holes arranged with different degrees of eccen- 
tricity. The block or platform is used for bending frames, 
etc. A mold, to the form of which a frame is to be bent, 
is laid upon the block, and its form is traced by a chalk- 
mark. The pins are then arranged in the holes so that 
the heated iron frame may be bent upon them into the 
form of the trace. The temperature of the heating is in- 
dicated by orange-red ; and by the use of various tools, 
Leveling-instrument, 
f erent forms, but consisting essentially of a tel- 
escope carrying a parallel, rigidly connected, 
and sensitive spirit-level. The telescope is mounted 
on a stable stand, and is capable of adjustment in all di- 
rections by means of screws. 
leveling-plow (ley'el-ing-plou), n. A plow 
adapted for leveling the ridges thrown up in 
some forms of cultivation in rows. 
leveling-pole, leveling-rod (lev'el-ing-pol, 
-rod), n. Same as leveling-staff, 1. 
leveling-screw (lev'el-ing-skro), n. 1 . In a mill, 
a screw in the hurst or frame on which a run 
of millstones is placed, used to give a vertical 
adjustment and bring it to an exact level. It 
acts against an iron plate set in a bedstone. 
2. In a surveying or portable astro- 
nomical instrument, any one of the 
screws used for leveling the horizontal 
plate or that part of the instrument on 
which the horizontal angles are read 
off. In most English theodolites and leveling- 
instruments there are two pairs of leveling- 
screws; in French and German instruments 
usually only three. 
leveling-staff (lev'el-ing-staf), n. 1. 
An instrument used in leveling, in con- 
junction with a leveling-instrument or 
with a spirit-level and a telescope, it 
is variously constructed, but consists essentially 
of a graduated pole with a vane sliding upon it 
so as to mark the height at any distance above 
the ground. See leveling, 2. Also called leveling- 
pole, leveling-rod, station-pole, or station-staff. 
2. An instrument used to support a 
glass plate horizontally so that it can 
retain a fluid upon its upper surface. 
It is usually in the form of a tripod fit- 
ted with adjusting-screws or levelers. 
leyelism (lev'el-izm), . [< level 1 + 
-ism.'] The leveling of distinctions in 
society, or the principle or doctrine of such 
leveling. [Rare.] 
leveller, levelling. See leveler, leveling. 
levelly (lev'el-li), adv. In a level manner; 
evenly; equally. [Rare.] 
Neither would praises and actions appear so lerelly con- 
current in many other of the Grecians as they do in these. 
Hobbes, tr. of Thucydides, ii. 
levelness (lev'el-nes), n. The condition of be- 
ing level ; evenness ; equality. 
The river Tiber is expressed lying along, for so you must 
remember to draw rivers, to express their levelness with 
the earth. Peacham, Drawing. 
level-suset, level-sicet, [Appar. < OF. lever, 
raise, + SMS, upon, over. Cf. level-coil.~\ Same 
as level-coil. Skelton. 
By tragick deaths device 
Ambitious hearts do play at level-sice. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Decay. 
leven 1 (lev'n), n. [Early mod. E. also lain, 
leaven; < ME. levene, levyn, lightning. No appar. 
source in AS., connection with AS. lig, leg (E. 
latjS), lightning, AS. Hget, leget (E. lait 1 ), light- 
ning, AS. leoltt (E. light 1 ), light, or with leoma 
(E. learn 1 ), gleam, being phonetically improba- 
ble.] Lightning. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
With wilde thonder dynt and flry levene 
Moote thy welked nekke be to-broke. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 276. 
As when the flashing Levin haps to light 
Uppon two stubborne oakes. 
Spenser, F. Q., V. vi. 40. 
Leveling- 
staff 
(def. i). 
