subˈequal, a.
[ad. mod.L. subæquālis: see sub- 21 c and equal.]
1. Nat. Hist. Nearly equal.
| 1787 tr. Linnæus' Fam. Plants 195 Florets all fertile. Proper one with petals five, heart-inflected, subequal. 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. II. 199 Eyes subequal. 1880 Huxley in Times 25 Dec. 4/1 The earliest known equine animal possesses four complete sub-equal digits on the fore foot. 1897 Günther in Mary Kingsley's W. Africa 704 Teeth small, subequal, with brown pointed tips. |
2. Related as several numbers of which no one is as large as the sum of the rest.
| In mod. Dicts. |
Hence subˈequally adv.; subeˈquality, the condition of being subequal.
| 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 200 Fruit glabrous, subequally ribbed all round. 1873 Mivart Elem. Anat. 172 In the number of these bones [metacarpals] and their sub-equality of development man agrees with many Vertebrates above Fishes. |