equivalent, a. and n.
(ɪˈkwɪvələnt)
Forms: 6–7 eque-, equivolent(e, 6 equyvalent, 7–8 æquivalent, 5– equivalent.
[ad. late L. æquivalent-em, pr. pple. of æquivalēre, f. æquus equal + valēre to be powerful, to be worth. Cf. Fr. équivalent.]
A. adj. Equal in value, power, efficacy, or import. Const. to, † with, † for or simply.
† 1. Of persons or things: Equal in power, rank, authority, efficacy, or excellence. Obs.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 67 The Kyng of Scotts..put out of the..Lond, the Erles Dowglas, whose Lyvelood and Myght was nerehand equivalent to his owne. 1513 Bardshaw St. Werburge i. 803 Equyualent to Ruth she was in humylyte. 1531 Elyot Gov. i xiv, At the laste we shulde haue..publike weale equiualent to the grekes or Romanes. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 437 The Duke of Burgoyn..thinking no man eyther in aucthoritie or blood equyvalent to himselfe.. tooke upon him the whole rule and governaunce of the realme. 1597 Bacon Coulers Good & Evill v. (Arb.) 146 Fraunce..was equiualent with them all, and beside more compacted and vnited. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 161 The oile of the Lentiske..were æquiualent euery way to oile-rosat, but that it is found to be more astringent. 1608 Shakes. Per. v. i. 92 Ancestors Who stood equivalent with mighty kings. 1655 Let. in Hartlib Ref. Commonw. Bees 25 As to Medicinal virtue æquivalent, if not exceeding the other. 1657 Burton's Diary (1828) II. 88 Certainly their authority was equivalent with yours. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 609 No Fair to thine Equivalent or second. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. i. (1691) 1 A small Country and few People may be equivalent in Wealth and Strength to a far greater People and Territory. |
† 2. Occasional uses. a. Of songs: ? Concordant. b. Correspondent, proportioned to. Obs.
| 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 3107 Syngynge full swetely theyr songes equyualent. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus i. 703 It is Equiualent To all ressoun..That thy mater..I tak on hand. |
3. a. Equal in value. Now only in more restricted uses: (a) of things regarded as mutually compensating each other, or as exchangeable; (b) of things of which one serves as a measure of value for the other.
| 1591 Horsey Trav. (Hakluyt Soc.) App. 301 The gayne..wold be at the leaste equevolente with the comodytyes the marchantes should reape therby. 1639 Fuller Holy War iv. xviii. (1647) 198 Tarqueminus reserving his person [King Louis] as an equivalent ransome. c 1720 Prior 1st Hymn Callimachus 70 Things of moment well nigh equivalent, and neighbouring value, By lot are parted. 1769 Goldsm. Rom. Hist. (1786) I. 210 The lives of those men were not equivalent for those of an army. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ii. 372 To pay an equivalent penalty, in case she failed in the proof of her charges. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 251 Thirty thousand pounds may be considered as equivalent to a hundred and fifty thousand pounds in the nineteenth century. 1858 Bright Sp. India 24 June, Taxation equivalent to 300,000,000l. |
b. Of weights, measures, numerical expressions: Equal in quantitative ‘value’.
| 1806 Hutton Math. I. 56 Reduce 56/7 to its equivalent number. To reduce a whole number to an equivalent fraction. 1825 Nicholson Operat. Mech. Gloss. 780 Quintal, a French or Spanish weight equivalent to 100 lbs. of those respective nations. |
4. Having equal or corresponding import, meaning, or significance: chiefly of words and expressions.
| 1529 More Heresyes iv. Wks. 280/1 It is now all one to cal him a Lutherane or to call him an heretike, those two wordes being in maner equiualent. 1530 Lyndesay Test Papyngo 786 Doctryne and deid war boith equeuolent. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 169 With them Princeps alone was equiualent with the name of Emperor. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 369 That double Letter in the Hebrew ({hebtsade})..is by some accounted equivolent to this. 1749 Power Pros. Numbers 61 Furnish yourself with a Copia of Equivalent Words. 1832 Lewis Use & Ab. Pol. Terms vii. 63 Here he makes a republic equivalent to a democracy. 1846 Mill Logic i. v. §7 Let us substitute for the word virtue an equivalent but more definite expression. 1886 F. W. Maitland in Law Q. Rev. Oct. 481 The further back we trace our legal history the more perfectly equivalent do the words seisin and possession become. |
5. a. That is virtually the same thing; identical in effect; tantamount.
| 1639 Fuller Holy War iii. xx. (1647) 144 Who knoweth not, but such a witnesse is equivalent to a generall consent? 1698 J. Keill Exam. Th. Earth (1734) 99 The centrifugal force..is equivalent..to two forces. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 153 ¶4 The contrariety of equal attractions is equivalent to rest. 1772 Junius Lett. lxviii. 346 Being taken with vert or venison was declared to be equivalent to indictment. 1842 Lytton Zanoni 28 A whisper against his honour and repute will, in future, be equivalent to an affront to myself. 1865 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 237 His presence..would be equivalent to an army of ten thousand men. 1885 Watson & Burbury Math. Th. Electr. & Magn. I. 145 The system is therefore equivalent to a complete sphere charged to unit potential. |
b. Optics. equivalent focal length (see quots.).
| 1867 Sutton & Dawson Dict. Photogr. (ed. 2) 116 Suppose that a lens..when presented towards a distant object, renders the image of it a certain size upon the ground glass. Then the ‘equivalent focal length’ of that lens..is equal to the principal focal length of a single lens, having a small stop in close contact with its central portion, which gives the same sized image of that object, when taken from the same point of view. 1961 A. L. M. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 19) 335 The focal length, or equivalent focal length, of a lens is defined as the distance from the node of emission, to the position at which the lens forms a sharp image of a distant object. |
c. Electr. equivalent circuit: an electric circuit consisting usually of resistance, inductance and capacitance and having characteristics equivalent to those of other electric circuits or apparatus.
| 1920 in R. E. Neale Whittaker's Electr. Engin. Pocket-Bk. 242 When speaking of the constants of a transformer, it is permissible to consider an equivalent circuit, the impedance of which is such that the same current at the same power-factor would flow if the same pressure were applied to it as to the primary of the transformer. 1943 Electronic Engin. XVI. 149 It is convenient to consider an equivalent circuit composed of pure reactances and resistances. 1962 Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors v. 75 These usually take the form of equivalent circuits which can be used to represent the transistor under different circuit conditions. |
6. Having the same relative position or function; corresponding.
| 1634 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 8 Burgomaisters..are equivalent to our bailiffs of cities or towns corporate. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 583 The Cadi, or some equivalent officer. 1807 J. E. Smith Phys. Bot. 7 Perhaps in the fossil kingdom heat may be equivalent to a vital principle. 18.. Dana (W.), The equivalent strata of different countries. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 152 The underground hairs of Mosses and the true roots of vascular plants are physiologically equivalent. |
7. Chem. Of a quantity of any substance: Equal in combining value to a (stated) quantity of another substance. Also, of elements: Having the same degree of quantivalence.
| 1850 Daubeny Atom. Th. ix. (ed. 2) 280 note, Otto employs the term equivalent volume instead of atomic volume. 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 172 The elements belonging to one class are equivalent. 1873 Williamson Chem. §85 One atom of oxygen takes the place of two atoms of chlorine, and it is spoken of as equivalent to two atoms of chlorine. 1880 tr. Wurtz' Atom. Th. 33 The atoms of simple bodies are equivalent to each other. |
B. n.
1. a. Something equal in value or worth; said esp. of things given by way of exchange or compensation; also, something tantamount or virtually identical.
| 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W. 1506) iv. vii. 185 By delyberacyon and fully consentynge or equyualent trespasseth ony of the x. commaundementes. a 1616 Rogers (J.), A regular obedience to one law will be a full equivalent for their breach of another. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. I. 234 You may well think we expected no less an equivalent. 1722 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 678 I'll remit the money to you as you direct, or send you equivalents. 1760 Goldsm. Cit. W. xxvii, For every dinner..they returned an equivalent in praise. 1771 ― Hist. Eng. IV. 270 This, however, was considered as no equivalent to the damages that had been sustained. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt II. xxiii. 52 Belleisle alone..was a sufficient equivalent for Minorca. 1828 Ld. Grenville Sink. Fund 9 Those quantities of money and of bread are equivalents. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. I. 18 To be paid in kind, or in money, or other equivalent. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. iii. iii. (1864) 567 The existence of a plurality of weak resemblances will be the equivalent of a single stronger one. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 159 Thus a white weasel's skin was an equivalent for eleven sheepskins. |
b. the Equivalent in Eng. Hist.: a sum of money ordered, by the Act of Union of 1707, to be paid to Scotland as a set-off against additional excise duties, loss on coinage, etc.
| 1706 Articles of Union xv, The sum of 398,085l. 10s...being the equivalent to be answered to Scotland for such parts of the said customs and excises, etc. The said commissioners..shall keep books containing accounts of the amount of the equivalent. 1707 Luttrell Brief Rel. VI. 181 Most of the Scotch commissioners for the equivalent are gone for that kingdom. 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4419/6 A..quantity of arms..belonging to the Commissioners of the Equivalent. |
† c. An equal part. Obs. rare.
| c 1590 Marlowe Faust. vii. (1878) 12 The streets straight⁓forth..Quarter the town in four equivalents. |
2. A word, expression, sign, etc., of equivalent meaning or import.
| 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. ii. 32 The words themselves..have in them the very essence of an Oath, to wit, so God help me, or other equivalent. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iii. (1875) 158 Appearance, which is its [Phenomenon's] verbal equivalent. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. v. 96 Wrote down the pictured equivalents for these words. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. App. 683, I have not found any English equivalent for that title. |
3. In various scientific uses: a. Chem. = equivalent proportion (see quot and A. 7.).
| 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. xxii. 554 The term chemical equivalent may therefore be used to imply that proportion of a body which is necessary to act upon another body. 1881 Williamson in Nature No. 618. 416 The term equivalent was subsequently introduced to indicate the proportional weights of analogous substances found to be of equal value in their chemical effects. |
b. That which corresponds in relative position or function (see A. 6); in Biol. said of analogous and homologous structures; in Geol. of a stratum or formation in one country answering to one in another country.
| 1839 Murchison Silur. Syst. i. iii. 33 The English equivalents of the Keuper. 1856 Woodward Mollusca 48 The univalve shell is the equivalent of both valves of the bivalve. |
c. Physics. mechanical equivalent: the amount of mechanical effect resulting from the operation of a force. mechanical equivalent of heat: conventionally, the amount of mechanical energy required to raise 1 lb. of water through 1° C.; cf. joule; mechanical equivalent of light: the amount of radiant flux that corresponds to unit luminous flux (or, in quot. 1908, that is emitted by a source of unit luminous intensity), usu. expressed in watts per lumen.
| 1842 Grove Corr. Phys. Forces 19 Where both lose, then an equivalent of heat results. 1845 Rep. Brit. Assoc. ii. 31 (heading) On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xix. 329 This force is the mechanical equivalent of the heat generated. 1863 ― Heat ii. (1870) 39 He first calculated the mechanical equivalent of heat. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iii. (1875) 165 An equivalent of the pressure we consciously exert. 1876 Tait Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc. vi. 137 For a quantity of heat represents its equivalent of work. 1908 Proc. R. Soc. A. LXXX. 19 The labours of workers in Germany and in the United States [have not]..sufficed to permit of definite values being adopted for..the mechanical equivalent of light. Ibid. 22 The mechanical equivalent of light M = 4πρ / I = Wr / Kf {obigpren} d / D {cbigpren}2, giving the mechanical equivalent in watts per candle. 1959 W. S. Sharps Dict. Cinemat. 110/2 The reciprocal of the luminous efficiency of radiant energy is often termed, the ‘mechanical equivalent of light’. |
| fig. 1878 Seeley Stein II. 17 Napoleon..had tried to find the Mechanical Equivalent of Catholicism. |
4. Comb. equivalent-money (see 1 b); equivalent number (Chem.), atomic weight.
| 1707 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) VI. 189 The remainder of the equivalent money for Scotland is to be sent thither next Tuesday in specie and bank bills. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5307/2 Commissioners for disposing so much of the Equivalent Mony payable to Scotland as remains yet unapplied. 1826 Henry Elem. Chem. I. 629 The equivalent number, or weight of the atom, of alumina, has been less satisfactorily determined than that of most of the earths. |
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Add: [A.] [5.] d. Math. Belonging to the same equivalence class.
| 1948, 1952 [see equivalence class s.v. *equivalence n. 4]. 1986 C. W. Norman Undergraduate Algebra i. 25 Two elements of X are equivalent if and only if their squares are equal. The equivalence classes, in this case, are [etc.]. |