Also 7 æquipoiz, 8 æquipoise. [f. EQUI- + POISE sb., replacing the phrase equal poise.]
1. Equality or equal distribution of weight; a condition of perfect balance or equilibrium.
a. in material things.
[1635. N. Carpenter, Geog. Del., I. iv. 74. The least waight whatsoeuer added or subtracted, would turne it from its Equall-poyze.]
1665. Glanvill, Sceps. Sci., xiv. 82. And even in the temperate zone of our life, there are few bodies at such an æquipoiz of humours.
1713. Derham, Phys. Theol., 14, note. An equipoise of the Atmosphere produceth a Calm.
1787. ‘G. Gambado,’ Acad. Horsem. (1808), 19. In your eagerness to mount, you may, by over-exerting yourself, lose your equipoise.
1822. Imison, Sc. & Art (ed. Webster), I. 34. If the arms of a balance be unequal, the weights in equipoise will be unequal in the same proportion.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xx. O’Brien … kept his left arm raised in equipoise.
1857. H. Reed, Lect. Eng. Poets, vii. 257. The beam of the balance will scarcely be moved to recover its equipoise.
b. in immaterial things; esp. intellectual, moral, political, or social forces or interests.
1658. J. Robinson, Stone to the Altar, 83. If between the weight of two equal Senses, there be an indistinguishable Equipoise.
1678. Norris, Coll. Misc. (1699), 117. So great reason had the excellent Des-Cartes to lay the foundation of his Philosophy in an Equipoise of mind.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 83, ¶ 4. Sim Scruple … lives in a continual equipoise of doubt.
1822. De Quincey, Confess. (1862), 197. Opium on the contrary communicates serenity and equipoise to all the faculties.
1858. Longf., Birds of Passage, Haunted Houses. Our little lives are kept in equipoise By opposite attractions and desires.
1885. Stevenson, in Contemp. Rev., April, 550. Between the implication and the evolution of the sentence there should be a satisfying equipoise of sound.
2. A counterpoise; a balancing or equivalent force. Chiefly fig.
1780. Sir J. Reynolds, Disc., x. (1876), 6. One side making almost an exact equipoise to the other.
1847. De Quincey, Sp. Mil. Nun, § 20 (1853), 65. Some sort of equipoise to the wealth which her daughter would bring.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. i. 43. The equipoise to the clergy [i.e., the aristocracy] being removed, the Church became so powerful.
