v. [f. L. compensāt- ppl. stem of compensāre to weigh one thing against another, counterbalance, etc., f. com- + pensāre, frequent. of pendĕre to weigh. Cf. COMPENSE.
The first pronunciation is that now usual in England, but appears to be quite recent; pronouncing dicts. had until c. 1850–70 only the other, which is also that of 18th-c. poets. Tennyson has both: (compensated) in the Princess, 1847.]
1. trans. To counterbalance, make up for, make amends for.
1656. Artif. Handsomeness (1662), 81. Those happy delusions, whereby we … compensate those our deformities.
1660. H. More, Myst. Godliness, 541. To compensate their neglect.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. III. i. 6. The benefit of it would not compensate the danger.
1733. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 181. Each seeming want compensated of course.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., I. 15. Still, to compensate toils and hazards past.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 152. The opposite errors may … compensate each other exactly.
1847. Tennyson, Princ., II. 133. For often fineness compensated size. Ibid. (1864), En. Ard., 249. Not being bred To barter, nor compensating the want By shrewdness.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz., III. v. 378. His native strength may compensate the defects of his equipment.
b. Const. with (an equivalent), by (an action).
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. xvi. 144. She compensates the death of the father by the … murder of the mother.
1649. Roberts, Clavis Bibl., 549. That they may compensate the barrennesse of the ground with the multitude of Cattell.
1672. Wilkins, Nat. Relig., 20. Compensating good with good, and not with evil.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 134. Compensating his loss with added hours Of social converse. Ibid., IV. 768. Compensating his loss By supplemental shifts, the best he may.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 684. The loss of water … not being compensated by absorption from below.
c. to a person.
1778. Burke, Corr. (1844), II. 248. To compensate to us in the east what we have lost irrecoverably in the west.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., III. 35. To compensate to the Venetians … the spoliation they had suffered.
d. absol. To make compensation or amends.
1660. R. Coke, Power & Subj., 176. Let us … abstain from all wickedness for the future, and duly compensate.
1774. T. Twining, Recr. & Stud. (1882), 25. If it … has defects … it has beauties and delicacies which amply compensate.
2. intr. To be an equivalent, to make up for.
1648. Ch.-lands not to be sold, 42. What proportion of carnall things can compensate for things spirituall.
a. 1677. Barrow, Wks. (1686), III. 75. There is in every condition somewhat of good compensating for its evils.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 434. Solicitous how best He may compensate for a day of sloth By works of darkness.
a. 1831. A. Knox, Rem. (1844), I. 71. Which could never be compensated for by … attention.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xxiii. 409. Skill might compensate for defective numbers.
3. trans. To make equal return to, to recompense or remunerate (a person, etc.) for anything.
1814. Wordsw., Excursion, III. 801. I should at least secure my own, And be in part compensated.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 459. To compensate yourself for your rent and services.
1880. Haughton, Phys. Geog., v. 228. Navigable rivers … seem to compensate South America for its deficiency in coal-beds.
4. Mech. To provide with mechanical compensation; to make up for (the variations to which a pendulum is liable). trans. and intr.
1819. [see COMPENSATING ppl. a. b].
1850. E. B. Denison, Rudim. Treat. Watches, etc., 84. We want therefore some contrivance which will compensate this expansion of the rod. Ibid., 274. If the pendulum is not compensated it must be of wood.
1871. B. Stewart, Heat (ed. 2), 79. The first who attempted to compensate for change of length of a pendulum was Mr. Graham, an English clockmaker.
Hence Compensated; Compensating vbl. sb.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 190. A cheap … compensated pendulum may be made with a wood rod and lead bob.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 39. Compensating, recompense.
