equivocally, adv.
(iːˈkwɪvəkəlɪ)
Also 6–7 æq-.
[f. as prec. + -ly2.]
In an equivocal manner.
† 1. So as to have the name without the properties implied in the name; nominally. Cf. equivocal 1. Obs.
| 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 208 By flesh and bloud æquiuocally, he vnderstandeth the sacrament of the flesh and bloud of Christe. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. i. xiv. §4 (1622) 152 Which whosoeuer lacketh, he is not properly, but equiuocally, a man. a 1716 South (J.), Words abstracted from their proper sense and signification, lose the nature of words, and are only equivocally so called. |
2. By equivocal generation. See
equivocal a. 3.
| 1645 Wither Gt. Assises Parnass. 31–3 Reptiles, which are equivocally bred. 1828 Macaulay Misc. Writ. (1860) 419 Those foul reptiles..of filth and stench equivocally born. |
3. a. So as to admit of a twofold or manifold application.
b. So as to convey a double meaning, ambiguously.
| a. 1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentl. (1641) 70 Vocation may be taken equivocally or univocally. c 1790 Reid Let. in Wks. I. 75/2 The same word may be applied to different things in three ways..equivocally, when they have no relation but a common name. |
| b. 1660 R. Coke Justice Vind. 39, I forgive Grotius in this, not having defined anything less equivocally. a 1720 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks (1753) II. 153 She spoke equivocally. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. v. 551 They [the instructions] were so equivocally worded. |