a. and sb. 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. Bradshaw, St. Werburge, I. 803. Equyualent to Ruth she was in humylyte.
1531. Elyot, Gov., I. xiv. 59 b. At the laste we shulde haue … a 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. Shaks., Per., V. i. 92, H iij b. Ancestors, who stood equiuolent with mightie Kings.
1655. Lett., 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. (1690), 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. 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., Hist. Rome (1786), I. 210. The lives of those men were not equivalent for those of an army.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. ii. 372. To pay an equivalent penalty, in case she failed in the proof of her charges.
1849. 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. Mechanic, 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 ([[Hebrew]) … 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. 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. 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.
1847. Sarah Austin, trans. Ranke’s Hist. Ref., III. 237. His presence, they averred 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.
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.
1863. Dana, Text-bk. Geol., 44 (W.). The strata of the same period or time—called equivalent strata, because equivalent in age—differ, even on the same continent.
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. The., 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. trans. Wurtz’ Atom. Th., 33. The atoms of simple bodies are equivalent to each other.
B. sb.
1. 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.
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.
a. 1729. J. Rogers, 19 Serm., xiii. (1735), 264 (J.). A regular Obedience to one Law will be a full Equivalent for their Breach of another.
1760. Goldsm., Cit. W., xxvii. For every dinner … they returned an equivalent in praise. Ibid. (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 straightforth … 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.
1842. Grove, Corr. Phys. Forces (1850), 19. Where both lose, then an equivalent of heat results.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xix. 329. This force is the mechanical equivalent of the heat generated. Ibid. (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.
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.
