Epithet – Erring

Epithet

EP'ITHET, noun [Gr. a name added; to place.] An adjective expressing some real quality of the thing to which it is applied, or an attributive expressing some quality ascribed to it; as a verdant lawn; a brilliant appearance; a just man; an accurate description.

It is sometimes used for title, name, phrase or expression; but improperly.

EP'ITHET v, t, To entitle; to describe by epithets.

Epithetic

EPITHET'IC, adjective Pertaining to an epithet or epithets.

1. Abounding with epithets. A style or composition may be too epithetic

Epithumetic

EPITHUMET'IC

EPITHUMET'ICAL, adjective [Gr.] Inclined to lust; pertaining to the animal passion.

Epithumetical

EPITHUMET'ICAL, a. [Gr.] Inclined to lust; pertaining to the animal passion.

Epitome

EPIT'OME

EPIT'OMIST, noun An epitomizer.

Epitomist

EPIT'OMIST, n. An epitomizer.

Epitomize

EPIT'OMIZE, verb transitive To shorten or abridge, as a writing or discourse; to abstract, in a summary, the principal matters of a book; to contract into a narrower compass. Xiphilin epitomized Dion's Roman History.

1. To diminish; to curtail. [Less proper.]

Epitomized

EPIT'OMIZED, participle passive Abridged; shortened; contracted into a smaller compass, as a book or writing.

Epitomizer

EPIT'OMIZER, noun One who abridges; a writer of an epitome.

Epitomizing

EPIT'OMIZING, participle present tense Abridging; shortening; making a summary.

Epitomy

EPIT'OMY, noun [Gr. to cut, a cutting, a section.] An abridgment; a brief summary or abstract of any book or writing; a compendium containing the substance or principal matters of a book.

Epitomes are helpful to the memory.

Epitrite

EP'ITRITE, noun [Gr. third.] In prosody, a foot consisting of three long syllables and one short one; as salutantes, concitati, incantare.

Epitrope

EPIT'ROPE

EPIT'ROPY, noun [Gr. to permit.] In rhetoric, concession; a figure by which one thing is granted, with a view to obtain an advantage; as, I admit all this may be true, but what is this to the purpose? I concede the fact, but it overthrows your own argument.

Epitropy

EPIT'ROPY, n. [Gr. to permit.] In rhetoric, concession; a figure by which one thing is granted, with a view to obtain an advantage; as, I admit all this may be true, but what is this to the purpose? I concede the fact, but it overthrows your own argument.

Epizootic

EPIZOOT'IC, adjective [Gr. animal.] In geology, an epithet given to such mountains as contain animal remains in their natural or in a petrified state, or the impressions of animal substances.

Epizootic mountains are of secondary formation.

Epizooty

EPIZO'OTY, noun [supra.] A murrain or pestilence among irrational animals.

Epoch

E'POCH, noun [Latin epocha; Gr. retention, delay, stop, to inhibit; to hold.]

1. In chronology, a fixed point of time, from which succeeding years are numbered; a point from which computation of years begins. The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, and the Babylonish captivity, are remarkable epochs in their history.

2. Any fixed time or period; the period when any thing begins or is remarkably prevalent; as the epoch of falsehood; the epoch of woe.

The fifteenth century was the unhappy epoch of military establishments in time of peace.

Epode

EP'ODE, noun [Gr. ode.] In lyric poetry, the third or last part of the ode; that which follows the strophe and antistrophe; the ancient ode being divided into strophe, antistrophe and epode The word is now used as the name of any little verse or verses, that follow one or more great ones. Thus a pentameter after a hexameter is an epode

Epopee

EPOPEE', noun [Gr. a song, to make.] An epic poem. More properly, the history, action or fable, which makes the subject of an epic poem.

Epos

E'POS, noun [Gr.] An epic poem, or its fable or subject.

Epsom salt, the sulphate of magnesia, a cathartic.

Epulary

EP'ULARY, adjective [Latin epularis, from epulum, a feast.] Pertaining to a feast or banquet.

Epulation

EPULA'TION, adjective [Latin eppulatio, from epulor, to feast.] A feasting or feast.

Epulotic

EPULOT'IC, adjective [Gr. to heal, to cicatrize; a cicatrix, to be sound, whole.] Healing; cicatrizing.

EPULOT'IC, noun A medicament or application which tends to dry, cicatrize and heal wounds or ulcers, to repress fungous flesh and dispose the parts to recover soundness.

Equability

EQUABIL'ITY, noun [See Equable.] Equality in motion; continued equality, at all times, in velocity or movement; uniformity; as the equability of the motion of a heavenly body, or of the blood in the arteries and veins.

1. Continued equality; evenness or uniformity; as the equability of the temperature of the air; the equability of the mind.

Equable

E'QUABLE, adjective [Latin oequabilis, from oequus, equal, even, oeguo, to equal, to level.]

1. Equal and uniform at all times, as motion. An equable motion continues the same in degree of velocity, neither accelerated nor retarded.

2. Even; smooth; having a uniform surface or form; as an equable glove or plain.

Equably

E'QUABLY, adverb With an equal or uniform motion; with continued uniformity; evenly; as, bodies moving equably in concentric

circles.

Equal

E'QUAL, adjective [Latin oegualis, from oequus, equal even, oeguo, to equal perhaps Gr. similar.]

1. Having the same magnitude or dimensions; being of the same bulk or extent; as an equal quantity of land; a house of equal size; two persons of equal bulk; an equal line or angle.

2. Having the same value; as two commodities of equal price or worth.

3. Having the same qualities or condition; as two men of equal rank or excellence; two bodies of equal hardness or softness.

4. Having the same degree; as two motions of equal velocity.

5. Even; uniform; not variable; as an equal temper or mind.

Ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal Ezekiel 16:1.

6. Being in just proportion; as, my commendation is not equal to his merit.

7. Impartial; neutral; not biased.

Equal and unconcerned, I look on all.

8. Indifferent; of the same interest or concern. He may receive them or not, it is equal to me.

9. Just; equitable; giving the same or similar rights or advantages. The terms and conditions of the contract are equal

10. Being on the same terms; enjoying the same or similar benefits.

They made the married, orphans, widows, yea and the aged also, equal in spoils with themselves.

11. Adequate; having competent power, ability or means. The ship is not equal to her antagonist. The army was not equal to the contest. We are not equal to the undertaking.

E'QUAL, noun One not inferior or superior to another; having the same or a similar age, rank, station, office, talents, strength, etc.

Those who were once his equals, envy and defame him.

It was thou, a man my equal my guide. Psalms 55:13. Galatians 1:14

E'QUAL, verb transitive To make equal; to make one thing of the same quantity, dimensions or quality as another.

1. To rise to the same state, rank or estimation with another; to become equal to. Few officers can expect to equal Washington in fame.

2. To be equal to.

One whose all not equals Edward's moiety.

3. To make equivalent to; to recompense fully; to answer in full proportion.

He answer'd all her cares, and equal'd all her love.

4. To be of like excellence or beauty.

The gold and the crystal cannot equal it. Job 28:17.

Equality

EQUAL'ITY, noun [Latin oequalitas.] An agreement of things in dimensions, quantity or quality; likeness; similarity in regard to two things compared. We speak of the equality of two or more tracts of land, of two bodies in length, breadth or thickness, of virtues or vices.

1. The same degree of dignity or claims; as the equality of men in the scale of being; the equality of nobles of the same rank; an equality of rights.

2. Evenness; uniformity; sameness in state or continued course; as an equality of temper or constitution.

3. Evenness; plainness; uniformity; as an equality of surface.

Equalization

EQUALIZA'TION, noun The act of equalizing, or state of being equalized.

Equalize

E'QUALIZE, verb transitive To make equal; as, to equalize accounts; to equalize burdens or taxes.

Equalized

E'QUALIZED, participle passive Made equal; reduced to equality.

Equalizing

E'QUALIZING, participle present tense Making equal.

Equally

E'QUALLY, adverb In the same degree with another; alike; as, to be equally taxed; to be equally virtuous or vicious; to be equally impatient, hungry, thirsty, swift or slow; to be equally furnished.

1. In equal shares or proportions. The estate is to be equally divided among the heirs.

2. Impartially; with equal justice.

Equalness

E'QUALNESS, noun Equality; a state of being equal.

1. Evenness; uniformity; as the equalness of a surface.

Equangular

EQUAN'GULAR, adjective [Latin oequus and angulus.] Consisting of equal angles. [See Equiangular, which is generally used.]

Equanimity

EQUANIM'ITY, noun [Latin oequanimitas; oequus and animus, an equal mind.] Evenness of mind; that calm temper or firmness of mind which is not easily elated or depressed, which sustains prosperity without excessive joy, and adversity without violent agitation of the passions or depression of spirits. The great man bears misfortunes with equanimity

Equanimous

EQUAN'IMOUS, adjective Of an even, composed frame of mind; of a steady temper; not easily elated or depressed.

Equation

EQUA'TION, noun [Latin oequatio, from oequo, to make equal or level.]

1. Literally, a making equal, or an equal division.

2. In algebra, a proposition asserting the equality of two quantities, and expressed by the sign=between them; or an expression of the same quantity in two dissimilar terms, but of equal value, as 3s=36d, or x=b+m-r. In the latter case, x is equal to be added to m, with r subtracted, and the quantities on the right hand of the sign of equation are said to be the value of x on the left hand.

3. In astronomy, the reduction of the apparent time or motion of the sun to equable, mean or true time.

4. The reduction of any extremes to a mean proportion.

Equator

EQUA'TOR, noun [Latin from oequo, to make equal.] In astronomy and geography, a great circle of the sphere, equally distant from the two poles of the world, or having the same poles as the world. It is called equator because when the sun is in it, the days and nights are of equal length; hence it is called also the equinoctial, and when drawn on maps, globes and planispheres, it is called the equinoctial line, or simply the line. Every point in the equator is 90 degrees or a quadrant's distance from the poles; hence it divides the globe or sphere into two equal hemispheres, the northern and southern. At the meridian, the equator rises as much above the horizon as is the complement of the latitude of the place.

Equatorial

EQUATO'RIAL, adjective Pertaining to the equator; as equatorial climates. The equatorial diameter of the earth is longer than the polar diameter.

Equery

E'QUERY, noun [Low Latin scutarius, from scutum, a shield. See Esquire.]

1. An officer of princes, who has the care and management of his horses.

2. A stable or lodge for horses.

Equestrian

EQUES'TRIAN, adjective [Latin equester, equestris, from eques, a horseman, from eqnus, a horse.]

1. Pertaining to horses or horsemanship; performed with horses; as equestrian feats.

2. Being on horseback; as an equestrian lady.

3. Skilled in horsemanship.

4. Representing a person on horseback; as an equestrian statue.

5. Celebrated by horse-races; as equestrian games, sports or amusements.

6. Belonging to knights. Among the Romans, the equestrian order was the order of knights, equites; also their troopers or horsemen in the field. In civil life, the knights stood contra-distinguished from the senators; in the field, from the infantry.

Equiangular

EQUIAN'GULAR, adjective [Latin oequus, equal, and angulus, an angle.]

In geometry, consisting of or having equal angles; an epithet given to figures whose angles are all equal, such as a square, an equilateral triangle, a parallelogram, etc.

Equibalance

EQUIBAL'ANCE, noun [Latin oequus and bilanx.] Equal weight.

EQUIBAL'ANCE, verb transitive To have equal weight with something.

Equicrural

EQUICRU'RAL, adjective [Latin oequus, equal and crus, a leg.] Having legs of equal length.

1. Having equal legs, but longer than the base; isosceles; as an equicrural triangle.

Equidifferent

EQUIDIF'FERENT, adjective Having equal differences; arithmetically proportional.

In crystalography, having a different number of faces presented by the prism and by each summit; and these three numbers form a series in arithmetical progression, as 6.4.2.

Equidistance

EQUIDIS'TANCE, noun Equal distance.

Equidistant

EQUIDIS'TANT, adjective [Latin oequus, equal, and distans, distant.]

Being at an equal distance from some point or place.

Equidistantly

EQUIDIS'TANTLY, adverb At the same or an equal distance.

Equiformity

EQUIFORM'ITY, noun [Latin oequus, equal, and forma, form.] Uniform equality.

Equilateral

EQUILAT'ERAL, adjective [Latin oequus, equal, and lateralis, from latus, side.]

Having all the sides equal; as an equilateral triangle. A square must necessarily be equilateral

EQUILAT'ERAL, noun A side exactly corresponding to others.

Equilibrate

EQUILI'BRATE, verb transitive [Latin oequus and libro, to poise.]

To balance equally two scales, sides or ends; to keep even with equal weight on each side.

The bodies of fishes are equilibrated with the water.

Equilibrated

EQUILI'BRATED, participle passive Balanced equally on both sides or ends.

Equilibrating

EQUILI'BRATING, participle present tense Balancing equally on both sides or ends.

Equilibration

EQUILIBRA'TION, noun Equipoise; the act of keeping the balance even, or the state of being equally balanced.

Nature's laws of equilibration

Equilibrious

EQUILIB'RIOUS, adjective Equally poised.

Equilibriously

EQUILIB'RIOUSLY, adverb In equal poise.

Equilibrist

EQUIL'IBRIST, noun One that balances equally.

Equilibrity

EQUILIB'RITY, noun [Latin oequilibritas.] The state of being equally balanced; equal balance on both sides; equilibrium; as the theory of equilibrity

Equilibrium

EQUILIB'RIUM, noun [Latin] In mechanics, equipose; equality of weight; the state of the two ends of a lever or balance, when both are charged with equal weight, and they maintain an even or level position, parallel to the horizon.

1. Equality of powers.

Health consists in the equilibrium between those two powers.

2. Equal balancing of the mind between motives or reasons; a

state of indifference or of doubt, when the mind is suspended in indecision, between different motives, or the different forces of evidence.

Equimultiple

EQUIMUL'TIPLE, adjective [Latin oequus and multiplico or multiplex.]

Multiplied by the same number or quantity.

EQUIMUL'TIPLE, noun In arithmetic and geometry, a number multiplied by the same number or quantity. Hence equimultiples are always in the same ratio to each other, as the simple numbers or quantities before multiplication. If 6 and 9 are multiplied by 4, the multiples, 24 and 36, will be to each other as 6 to 9.

Equine

E'QUINE, adjective [Latin equinus, from equus, a horse.] Pertaining to a horse or to the genus.

The shoulders, body, thighs, and mane are equine; the head completely bovine.

Equinecessary

EQUINEC'ESSARY, adjective [Latin oequus and necessary.]

Necessary or needful in the same degree.

Equinoctial

EQUINOC'TIAL, adjective [Latin oequus, equal, and nox, night.]

1. Pertaining to the equinoxes; designating an equal length of day and night; as the equinoctial line.

2. Pertaining to the regions or climate of the equinoctial line or equator; in or near that line; as equinoctial heat; an equinoctial sun; equinoctial wind.

3. Pertaining to the time when the sun enters the equinoctial points; as an equinoctial gale or storm, which happens at or near the equinox, in any part of the world.

4. equinoctial flowers, flowers that open at a regular, stated hour.

EQUINOC'TIAL, noun [for equinoctial line.]

In astronomy, a great circle of the sphere, under which the equator moves in its diurnal course. This should not be confounded with the equator, as there is a difference between them; the equator being movable, and the equinoctial immovable; the equator being drawn about the convex surface of the sphere, and the equinoctial on the concave surface of the magnus orbis. These words however are often confounded. When the sun, in its course through the ecliptic, comes to this circle, it makes equal days and nights in all parts of the globe. The equinoctial then is the circle which the sun describes, or appears to describe, at the time the days and nights are of equal length, viz. about the 21st of March and 23d of September.

Equinoctial points, are the two points wherein the equator and ecliptic intersect each other; the one, being in the first point of Aries, is called the vernal point or equinox; the other, in the first point of Libra, the autumnal point or equinox.

Equinoctial dial, is that whose plane lies parallel to the equinoctial

Equinoctially

EQUINOC'TIALLY, adverb In the direction of the equinox.

Equinox

E'QUINOX, noun [Latin oequus, equal, and nox, night.]

The precise time when the sun enters one of the equinoctial points, or the first point of Aries, about the 21st of March, and the first point of Libra, about the 23d of September, making the day and the night of equal length. These are called the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. These points are found to be moving backward or westward, at the rate of 50' of a degree in a year. This is called the precession of the equinoxes.

Equinumerant

EQUINU'MERANT, adjective [Latin oequus, equal, and numerus, number.]

Having or consisting of the same number. [Little used.]

Equip

EQUIP', verb transitive

1. Properly, to dress; to habit. Hence, to furnish with arms, or a complete suit of arms, for military service. Thus we say, to equip men or troops for war; to equip a body of infantry or cavalry. But the word seems to include not only arms, but clothing, baggage, utensils, tents, and all the apparatus of an army, particularly when applied to a body of troops. Hence, to furnish with arms and warlike apparatus; as, to equip a regiment.

2. To furnish with men, artillery and munitions of war, as a ship. Hence, in common language, to fit for sea; to furnish with whatever is necessary for a voyage.

Equipage

EQ'UIPAGE, noun The furniture of a military man, particularly arms and their appendages.

1. The furniture of an army or body of troops, infantry or cavalry; including arms, artillery, utensils, provisions, and whatever is necessary for a military expedition. Camp equipage includes tents, and every thing necessary for accommodation in camp. Field equipage consists of arms, artillery, wagons, tumbrels, etc.

2. The furniture of an armed ship, or the necessary preparations for a voyage; including cordage, spars, provisions, etc.

3. Attendance, retinue, as persons, horses, carriages, etc.; as the equipage of a prince.

4. Carriage of state; vehicle; as celestial equipage

5. Accouterments; habiliments; ornamental furniture.

Equipaged

EQ'UIPAGED, adjective Furnished with equipage; attended with a splendid retinue.

Equipendency

EQUIPEN'DENCY, noun [Latin oequus, equal, and pendeo, to hang.]

The act of hanging in equipoise; a being not inclined or determined either way.

Equipment

EQUIP'MENT, noun The act of equipping, or fitting for a voyage or expedition.

1. Any thing that is used in equipping; furniture; habiliments; warlike apparatus; necessaries for an expedition, or for a voyage; as the equipments of a ship or an army.

Equipoise

E'QUIPOISE, noun s as z. [Latin oequus, equal.] Equality of weight or force; hence, equilibrium; a state in which the two ends or sides of a thing are balanced. Hold the scales in equipoise The mind may be in a state of equipoise when motives are of equal weight.

Equipollence

EQUIPOL'LENCE

EQUIPOL'LENCY, noun [Latin oequus and pollentia, power, polleo, to be able.]

1. Equality of power or force.

2. In logic, an equivalence between two or more propositions; that is, when two propositions signify the same thing, though differently expressed.

Equipollency

EQUIPOL'LENCY, n. [L. oequus and pollentia, power, polleo, to be able.] 1. Equality of power or force.2. In logic, an equivalence between two or more propositions; that is, when two propositions signify the same thing, though differently expressed.

Equipollent

EQUIPOL'LENT, adjective [supra.] Having equal power or force; equivalent. In logic, having equivalent signification.

Equiponderance

EQUIPON'DERANCE, noun [Latin oequus, equal, and pondus, weight.]

Equality of weight; equipoise.

Equiponderant

EQUIPON'DERANT, adjective [supra.] Being of the same weight.

Equiponderate

EQUIPON'DERATE, verb intransitive [Latin oequus, equal, and pondero, to weigh.]

To be equal in weight; to weigh as much as another thing.

Equipondious

EQUIPON'DIOUS, adjective Having equal weight on both sides.

Equipped

EQUIP'PED, participle passive Furnished with habiliments, arms, and whatever is necessary for a military expedition, or for a voyage or cruise.

Equipping

EQUIP'PING, participle present tense Furnishing with habiliments or warlike apparatus; supplying with things necessary for a voyage.

Equisonance

EQUISO'NANCE, noun An equal sounding; a name by which the Greeks distinguished the consonances of the octave and double octave.

Equitable

EQ'UITABLE, noun [Latin oequitas, from oequus, 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 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.

Equitableness

EQ'UITABLENESS, noun The quality of being just and impartial; as the equitableness of a judge.

1. Equity; the state of doing justice, or distributing to each according to his legal or just claims; as the equitableness of a decision or distribution of property.

Equitably

EQ'UITABLY, adverb In an equitable manner; justly; impartially. The laws should be equitably administered.

Equitant

EQ'UITANT, adjective [Latin equitans, equito, to ride, from eques, a horseman, or equus, a horse.]

In botany, riding, as equitant leaves: a term of leafing or foliation, when two opposite leaves converge so with their edges, that one incloses the other; or when the inner leaves are inclosed by the outer ones.

Equitation

EQUITA'TION, noun A riding on horseback.

Equity

EQ'UITY, noun [Latin oequitas, from oequus, equal, even, level.]

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 Psalms 98:9.

With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity Isaiah 11:4.

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.'

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.

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.

Equivalence

EQUIV'ALENCE, noun [Latin oequus, 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.]

Equivalent

EQUIV'ALENT, adjective 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.

1. Equal in force, power or effect. A steam engine may have force or power equivalent to that of thirty horses.

2. Equal in moral force, cogency or effect on the mind. Circumstantial evidence may be almost equivalent to full proof.

3. 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

Equivalent propositions in logic are called also equipollent.

4. Equal in excellence or moral worth.

EQUIV'ALENT, noun That which is equal in value, weight, dignity or force, with something else. The debtor cannot pay his creditor in money, but he will pay him an equivalent Damages in money cannot be an equivalent for the loss of a limb.

1. In chimistry, equivalent is the particular weight or quantity of any substance which is necessary to saturate any other with which it can combine. It is ascertained that chimical combinations are definite, that is, the same body always enters into combination in the same weight, or if it can combine with a particular body in more than one proportion, the higher proportion is always a multiple of the lower.

Equivalently

EQUIV'ALENTLY, adverb In an equal manner.

Equivocacy

EQUIV'OCACY, noun Equivocalness. [Not used.]

Equivocal

EQUIV'OCAL, adjective [Low Latin oequivocus; oequus, equal, and vox, a word. 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.

EQUIV'OCAL, noun A word or term of doubtful meaning, or capable of different meanings.

Equivocally

EQUIV'OCALLY, adverb Ambiguously; in a doubtful sense; in terms susceptible of different senses. He answered the question equivocally

1. By uncertain birth; by equivocal generation.

Equivocalness

EQUIV'OCALNESS, noun Ambiguity; double meaning.

Equivocate

EQUIV'OCATE, verb intransitive 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.

Equivocating

EQUIV'OCATING, participle present tense Using ambiguous words or phrases.

Equivocation

EQUIVOCA'TION, noun 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.

Equivocator

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

Equivoke

E'QUIVOKE, noun An ambiguous term; a word susceptible of different significations.

1. Equivocation.

Equivorous

EQUIV'OROUS, adjective [Latin equus, horse, and voro, to eat.]

Feeding or subsisting on horse flesh.

Equivorous Tartars.

Er

ER, the termination of many English words, is the Teutonic form of the Latin or; the one contracted from wer, the other from vir, a man. It denotes an agent, originally of the masculine gender, but now applied to men or things indifferently; as in farmer, heater, grater. At the end names of places, er signifies a man of the place; Londoner is the same as London-man.

There is a passage in Herodotus, Melpomene, 110, in which the word wer, vir, a man, is mentioned as used by the Scythians; a fact proving the affinity of the Scythian and the Teutonic nations.

'The Scythians call the Amazons Oiorpata, a word which may be rendered, in Greek, menkillers; for oior is the name they give to man, pata signifies to kill.' Pata, in the Burman language, signifies to kill; but it is probable that this is really the English beat.

Er-Seller

FEATH'ER-SELLER, 'ER-SELLER, noun One who sells fethers for beds.

Era

E'RA, noun [Latin oera. The origin of the term is not obvious.]

1. In chronology, a fixed point of time, from which any number of years is begun to be counted; as the Christian era It differs from epoch in this; era is a point of time fixed by some nation or denomination of men; epoch is a point fixed by historians and chronologists. The christian era began at the epoch of the birth of Christ.

2. A succession of years proceeding from a fixed point, or comprehended between two fixed points. The era of the Seleucides ended with the reign of Antiochus.

Eradiate

ERA'DIATE, verb intransitive [Latin e and radio, to beam.]

To shoot as rays of light; to beam.

Eradiation

ERADIA'TION, noun Emission of rays or beams of light; emission of light or splendor.

Eradicate

ERAD'ICATE, verb transitive [Latin eradico, from radix, root.]

1. To pull up the roots, or by the roots. Hence, to destroy anything that grows; to extirpate; to destroy the roots, so that the plant will not be reproduced; as, to eradicate weeds.

2. To destroy thoroughly; to extirpate; as, to eradicate errors, or false principles, or vice or disease.

Eradicated

ERAD'ICATED, participle passive Plucked up by the roots; extirpated; destroyed.

Eradicating

ERAD'ICATING, participle present tense Pulling up the roots of any thing; extirpating.

Eradication

ERADICA'TION, noun The act of plucking up by the roots; extirpation; excision; total destruction.

1. The state of being plucked up by the roots.

Eradicative

ERAD'ICATIVE, adjective That extirpates; that cures or destroys thoroughly.

ERAD'ICATIVE, noun A medicine that effects a radical cure.

Erasable

ERA'SABLE, adjective That may or can be erased.

Erase

ERA'SE, verb transitive [Latin erado, erasi; e and rado, to scrape; Heb. a graving tool.]

1. To rub or scrape out, as letters or characters written, engraved or painted; to efface; as, to erase a word or a name.

2. To obliterate; to expunge; to blot out; as with pen and ink.

3. To efface; to destroy; as ideas in the mind or memory.

4. To destroy to the foundation. [See Raze.]

Erased

ERA'SED, participle passive Rubbed or scratched out; obliterated; effaced.

Erasement

ERA'SEMENT, noun The act of erasing; a rubbing out; expunction; obliteration; destruction.

Erasing

ERA'SING, participle present tense Rubbing or scraping out; obliterating; destroying.

Erasion

ERA'SION, noun s as z. The act of erasing; a rubbing out; obliteration.

Erastian

ERAS'TIAN, noun A follower of one Erastus, the leader of a religious sect, who denied the power of the church to discipline its members.

Erastianism

ERAS'TIANISM, noun The principles of the Erastians.

Erasure

ERA'SURE, noun era'zhur. The act of erasing; a scratching out; obliteration.

1. The place where a word or letter has been erased or obliterated.

Ere

ERE, adverb Before; sooner than.

ERE sails were spread new oceans to explore.

The nobleman saith to him, Sir, come down ere my child die. John 4:49.

In these passages, ere is really a preposition, followed by a sentence, instead of a single word, as below.

ERE, preposition Before.

Our fruitful Nile

Flow'd ere the wonted season.

Erebus

ER'EBUS, noun [Latin erebus ] In mythology, darkness; hence, the region of the dead; a deep and gloomy place; hell.

Erect

ERECT', adjective [Latin erectus, from erigo, to set upright; e and rego, to stretch or make straight, right, rectus. See Right.]

1. Upright, or in a perpendicular posture; as, he stood erect

2. Directed upward.

And suppliant hands, to heaven erect

3. Upright and firm; bold; unshaken.

Let no vain fear thy generous ardor tame;

But stand erect

4. Raised; stretched; intent; vigorous; as a vigilant and erect attention of mind in prayer.

5. Stretched; extended.

6. In botany, an erect stem is one which is without support from twining, or nearly perpendicular; an erect leaf is one which grows close to the stem; an erect flower has its aperture directed upwards.

ERECT', verb transitive To raise and set in an upright or perpendicular direction, or nearly such; as, to erect a pole or flag-staff.

To erect a perpendicular, is to set or form one line on another at right angles.

1. To raise, as a building; to set up; to build; as, to erect a house or temple; to erect a fort.

2. To set up or establish anew; to found; to form; as, to erect a kingdom or commonwealth; to erect a new system or theory.

3. To elevate; to exalt.

I am far from pretending to infallibility; that would be to erect myself into an apostle.

4. To raise; to excite; to animate; to encourage.

Why should not hope

As much erect our thoughts, as fear deject them?

5. To raise a consequence from premises. [Little used.]

Malebranche erects this proposition.

6. To extend; to distend.

ERECT', verb intransitive To rise upright.

Erectable

ERECT'ABLE, adjective That can be erected; as an erectable feather.

Erected

ERECT'ED, participle passive Set in a straight and perpendicular direction; set upright; raised; built; established; elevated; animated; extended and distended.

Erecter

ERECT'ER, noun One that erects; one that raises or builds.

Erecting

ERECT'ING, participle present tense Raising and setting upright; building; founding; establishing; elevating; inciting; extending and distending.

Erection

EREC'TION, noun The act of raising and setting perpendicular to the plane of the horizon; a setting upright.

1. The act of raising or building, as an edifice or fortification; as the erection of a wall, or of a house.

2. The state of being raised, built or elevated.

3. Establishment; settlement; formation; as the erection of a commonwealth, or of a new system; the erection of a bishop-rick or an earldom.

4. Elevation; exaltation of sentiments.

Her peerless height my mind to high erection draws up.

5. Act of rousing; excitement; as the erection of the spirits.

6. Any thing erected; a building of any kind.

7. Distension and extension.

Erective

ERECT'IVE, adjective Setting upright; raising.

Erectly

ERECT'LY, adverb In an erect posture.

Erectness

ERECT'NESS, noun Uprightness of posture or form.

Erector

ERECT'OR, noun A muscle that erects; one that raises.

Erelong

E'RELONG, adverb [ere and long.] Before a long time had elapsed.

He mounted the horse, and following the stag, erelong slew him.

1. Before a long time shall elapse; before long. erelong you will repent of your folly.

The world erelong a world of tears must weep.

Eremitage

ER'EMITAGE, noun [See Hermitage.]

Eremite

ER'EMITE, noun [Latin eremita; Gr.a desert.] One who lives in a wilderness, or in retirement, secluded from an intercourse with men. It is generally written hermit, which see.

Eremitical

EREMIT'ICAL, adjective Living in solitude, or in seclusion from the world.

Erenow

E'RENOW, adverb [ere and now.] Before this time.

Ereption

EREP'TION, noun [Latin ereptio.] A taking or snatching away by force.

Erewhile

E'REWHILE

E'REWHILES, adverb [ere and while. Some time ago; before a little while.

I am as fair now as I was erewhile

Erewhiles

E'REWHILES, adv. [ere and while. Some time ago; before a little while. I am as fair now as I was erewhile.

Ergat

ER'GAT, verb intransitive [Latin ergo.] To infer; to draw conclusions. [Not used.]

Ergo

ER'GO, adverb [Latin] Therefore.

Ergot

ERGOT, noun In farriery, a stub, like a piece of soft horn, about the bigness of a chestnut, situated behind and below the pastern joint, and commonly hid under the tuft of the fetloc.

1. A morbid excrescence in grain; a dark colored shoot, often an inch long, from the ears of grain, particularly of rye.

Ergotism

ER'GOTISM, noun [Latin ergo.] A logical inference; a conclusion.

Eriach

ER'IACH, noun A pecuniary fine.

Erigible

ER'IGIBLE, adjective That may be erected. [Ill formed and not used.]

Eringo

ERINGO. [See Eryngo.]

Eristic

ERIST'IC

ERIST'ICAL, adjective [Gr. contention; contentious.] Pertaining to disputes; controversial. [Not in use.]

Eristical

ERIST'ICAL, a. [Gr. contention; contentious.] Pertaining to disputes; controversial. [Not in use.]

Erke

ERKE, noun Idle; slothful. [Not in use.]

Ermelin

ERMELIN. [See Ermin.]

Ermin

ER'MIN

ER'MINE, noun

1. An animal of the genus Mustela, an inhabitant of northern climates, in Europe and America. It nearly resembles the martin in shape, but the weasel, in food and manners. In winter, the fur is entirely white; in summer, the upper part of the body is of a pale tawny brown color, but the tail is tipped with black. The fur is much valued.

2. The fur of the ermin

Ermine

ER'MINE, n. 1. An animal of the genus Mustela, an inhabitant of northern climates, in Europe and America. It nearly resembles the martin in shape, but the weasel, in food and manners. In winter, the fur is entirely white; in summer, the upper part of the body is of a pale tawny brown color, but the tail is tipped with black. The fur is much valued.2. The fur of the ermin.

Ermined

ER'MINED, adjective Clothed with ermin; adorned with the fur of the ermin; as ermined pride; ermined pomp.

Erne

ERNE, or AERNE, a Saxon word, signifying a place or receptacle, forms the termination of some English words, as well as Latin; as in barn, lantern, tavern, taberna.

Erode

ERO'DE, verb transitive [Latin erodo; e and rodo, to gnaw.] To eat in or away; to corrode; as, canker erodes the flesh.

The blood, being too sharp or thin, erodes the vessels.

Eroded

ERO'DED, participle passive Eaten; gnawed; corroded.

Eroding

ERO'DING, participle present tense Eating into; eating away; corroding.

Erogate

ER'OGATE, verb transitive [Latin erogo.] To lay out; to give; to bestow upon. [Not used.]

Erogation

EROGA'TION, noun The act of conferring. [Not used.]

Erose

ERO'SE, adjective [Latin erosus.] In botany, an erose leaf has small sinuses in the margin, as if gnawed.

Erosion

ERO'SION, noun s as z. [Latin erosio.] The act or operation of eating away.

1. The state of being eaten away; corrosion; canker.

Erotic

EROT'IC

EROT'ICAL, adjective [Gr. love.] Pertaining to love; treating of love.

EROT'IC, noun An amorous composition or poem.

Erpetologist

ERPETOL'OGIST, noun [Gr. reptile, discourse.] One who writes on the subject of reptiles, or is versed in the natural history of reptiles.

Erpetology

ERPETOL'OGY, noun [supra.] That part of natural history which treats of reptiles.

Err

ERR, verb intransitive [Latin erro.]

1. To wander from the right way; to deviate from the true course or purpose.

But errs not nature from this gracious end,

From burning suns when livid deaths descend?

2. To miss the right way, in morals or religion; to deviate from the path or line of duty; to stray by design or mistake.

We have erred and strayed like lost sheep.

3. To mistake; to commit error; to do wrong from ignorance or inattention. Men err in judgment from ignorance, from want of attention to facts, or from previous bias of mind.

4. To wander; to ramble.

A storm of strokes, well meant, with fury flies,

And errs about their temples, ears, and eyes.

Errable

ER'RABLE, adjective Liable to mistake; fallible. [Little used.]

Errableness

ER'RABLENESS, noun Liableness to mistake or error.

We may infer from the errableness of our nature, the reasonableness of compassion to the seduced.

Errand

ER'RAND, noun

1. A verbal message; a mandate or order; something to be told or done; a communication to be made to some person at a distance. The servant was sent on an errand; he told his errand; he has done the errand These are the most common modes of using this word.

I have a secret errand to thee, O King. Judges 3:19.

2. Any special business to be transacted by a messenger.

Errant

ER'RANT, adjective [Latin errans, from erro, to err.]

1. Wandering; roving; rambling; applied particularly to knights, who, in the middle ages, wandered about to seek adventures and display their heroism and generosity, called knights errant

2. Deviating from a certain course.

3. Itinerant.

Errant, for arrant, a false orthography. [See Arrant.]

Errantry

ER'RANTRY, noun A wandering; a roving or rambling about.

1. The employment of a knight errant.

Erratic

ERRAT'IC, adjective [Latin erraticus, from erro, to wander.] Wandering; having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination.

1. Moving; not fixed or stationary; applied to the planets, as distinguished from the fixed stars.

2. Irregular; mutable.

Erratically

ERRAT'ICALLY, adverb Without rule, order or established method; irregularly.

Erration

ERRA'TION, noun A wandering. [Not used.]

Erratum

ERRA'TUM, noun plural errata. [See Err.] An error or mistake in writing or printing. A list of the errata of a book is usually printed at the beginning or end, with references to the pages and lines in which they occur.

Errhine

ER'RHINE, adjective er'rine. [Gr. the nose.] Affecting the nose, or to be snuffed into the nose; occasioning discharges from the nose.

ER'RHINE, noun er'rine. A medicine to be snuffed up the nose, to promote discharges of mucus.

Erring

ER'RING, participle present tense Wandering from the truth or the right way; mistaking; irregular.