Forms: 1 efnan, 2–3 efnen, (3 effnen), 3–4 evene(n, -yn, (4 emni, 6 evin), 6–7 eeven, 8 eaven, 4– even. [OE. efran, also ʓe-efn(i)an, f. efen, EVEN a. Cf. OHG. ebanôn (Ger. ebenen), ON. iafna, Goth. ga-ibnjan.
The OE. ęfnan, æfnan, to accomplish, achieve, corresponding to ON. efna of same meaning, is wholly unconnected.]
I. To make even, level or straight.
1. trans. a. To level (ground); to level, render plane or smooth (any surface); also fig. † b. To bring up or restore to a level, or to a straight line. † c. To even out: to dispose evenly into. d. To fit (one thing) to (another).
a. c. 1200. Ormin, 9207. All þatt ohht iss wrang & crumb Shall effnedd beon & rihhtedd.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxviii. 25. Whan he shal euenen therto his [the erthes] face, he shal sowe the sed gith.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg. (MS. A.), 127. Whanne þou hast removed of þe boon þat schal be removed evene þe brynkis with schavynge.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., VI. 39. And even the erthe above.
1581. Sidney, Apol. Peetrie (Arb.), 54. Law, whose end is, to euen and right all things.
1662. Merret, trans. Neri’s Art of Glass, 364. Scissers cut the Glass, and even it.
1686. Aglionby, Painting Illust., I. 28. Upon a dry Wall, having first Evened it.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 118. The Line and Rake for eavening and smoothing the Ground.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 225. And when the Face of it is evened, it reflects Images like a Looking-glass.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 309. The Good Shepherd, Who smoothed for them all rugged places, and evened them by His Own Steps.
1864. E. Burritt, Walk Lond. to John O’Groat’s, 317–8. The tailor’s shears, the mason’s trowel, and the carpenter’s edge-tools are evenning everything in Christendom to one dead level of uniformity.
b. 1382. Wyclif, 1 Kings xi. 27. Salomon beeldide Mello, and euenede the swelwȝ of the citee of Dauid.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 143. Evenyn, or make evyn.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva, 77 (J.). Beat, Roll, and Mow Carpet-walks, and Comomile; for now the ground is supple, and it will even all inequalities.
1688. Capt. J. S., Art of War, 6. Even your Ranks, straiten your Files.
1849. [Mrs. Wilde], trans. Meinhold’s Sidonia Sorc., II. 290. The Prussian government … desired the foundation to be evened, for it had sank in various places.
c. 1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 2. Those things that right reason and a wisdom above us, had evened out into ranks and kindreds by themselves, have been unhappily hudled and broken by the mind of man.
d. 1530. Palsgr., 540/2. Even this lynyng to my gowne.
1659. Hammond, On Ps. xviii. 33. Annot. 102/2. Evening or fitting [lit. trans. Heb. mesharvvēh] my feet he makes them nimble.
† 2. To level to, with (the ground, etc.). In OE. example: To throw (a person) down. Obs.
a. 1000. Riddles, xxviii. (Gr.). Ic … efne to eorðan hwilum ealdne ceorl.
1382. Wyclif, Jer. i. 12. Confoundid is ȝoure moder ful myche, and euened to pouder.
1559. Sackville, Mirr. Mag., Induct. lxii. Walls and towers flat evened with the soyle.
1591. Raleigh, Last Fight Rev. (Arb.), 21. Her vpper worke [was] rased, and … euened shee was with the water.
1632. Heywood, 2nd Pt. Iron Age, III. Wks. 1874, III. 393. Sees … The stately walls he reard, leuel’d and euen’d.
† b. To bring down to a specified level. Obs. exc. dial.
1636. Rutherford, Lett., No. 70 (1862), I. 183. He wd not even you to a gift of dirt and clay.
1650. H. Brooke, Conserv. Health, H v. Evened my words to the meanest capacity.
1741. Richardson, Pamela, I. 84. You do well, Sir, said I, to even your Wit to such a poor Maiden as me.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., s.v., I wouldn’t even my wit to you.
† 3. To make (a balance) even. Obs.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Prerog. Parl., Ep. A iij b. The point of honour well weighed hath nothing in it to euen the ballance.
1638. Chillingw., Relig. Prot., I. iii. § 86. 181. Even the ballance, and hold it even.
a. 1718. Penn, in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem., I. 421. Prudence and proportion will more than even the scale.
† 4. To make (accounts, etc.) even; to balance, settle, square; to come to agreement upon (points of difference). Obs.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), II. 65. Foure prudent men wer chosin, on ilk side, to evin all debatis betwix thame.
1619. Sir R. Boyle, in Lismore Papers (1886), I. 215. By my payment Mr Dalton and I have evened all accompts.
1664. Pepys, Diary (1879), III. 11. He hath now evened his reckonings at the Wardrobe till Michaelmas last.
1719. W. Wood, Surv. Trade, 90. The goods we send to that Country are by no means sufficient to even the account between us.
1745. De Foe’s Eng. Tradesman (1841), II. xlii. 141. He has evened all his differences.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Aur. Leigh, VIII. (1882), 349. To sorrow for mankind And even their odds.
absol. 1667. Pepys, Diary, 13 Oct. Evened with W. Hewer for my expenses upon the road.
b. To even up: to compensate exactly.
1865. Bushnell, Vicar. Sacr., Introd. 16. They take … what he [Anselm] says of justice as if He [Christ] were engaged to even up the score of penalty.
† c. To make (a person) ‘even’ or quits with another. Obs.
1604. Shaks., Oth., II. i. 308. Nothing … shall content my Soule Till I am eeuen’d with him.
† d. To bring into accord, reconcile. Obs.
1620. Horæ Subseciuæ, 143. To euen and compound them [factions] in mutuall amity and agreement.
5. † a. To make equal. Obs. rare.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 182. Sicknesse þet God sent … efneð þene þolemode to martir.
1553. Grimalde, Cicero’s Offices, 2 a. That diligently you read not onely my Orations, but these Bookes also of Philosophy, which now well nigh to those have euened themselues in quantitie.
b. To treat or represent as equal; to put on the same level; refl. to pretend to equality. Const. to, with (in ME. ȝæn). Also absol. rare in mod. use exc. Sc.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1396. Enngless … wolldenn effnenn hemm ȝæn Godd. Ibid., 15979. For þatt teȝȝ Haliȝ Gastess mahht Effnenn wiþ þerþlic ahhte.
1340. Ayenb., 16. Liȝtbere … wolde by above þe oþre angeles, and him wolde emni to God.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xlvi. 5. To whom licneden ȝee me, and eueneden and comparisounden me.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Sonn., lxii. I think it scorne … To euin an ape with aufull Alexander.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xi. They never thought … of evening themselves to the Ellangowans. Ibid. (1824), Redgauntlet, let. xii. ‘Me and Miss Lilias even’d thegither! Na, na, lad —od, she is … four or five years younger.’
1830. Galt, Lawrie T., VI. i. (1849), 254. The idea of me evening myself in sincerity to their mother.
1881. Sat. Rev., No. 1323. 301. We disclaim the slightest idea of evening the two poets, which would be simply absurd.
1887. Saintsbury, Hist. Elizab. Lit., 201. A touch of pathos, again to be evened only to Shakespere’s.
c. Sc. ‘To talk of one person as a match for another in marriage’ (Jam.).
1823. Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, III. VII. ii. 119 (Jam.). ‘Would ony Christian body even yon bit object to a bonny sonsy weel-faured young woman like Miss Catline?’
d. dial. To treat as appropriate to (a person’s character); chiefly in bad sense, to impute to.
1845. Mrs. S. C. Hall, Whiteboy, I. iv. 58. It’s long since I heard such a thing as that [having a nice cottage and some fields] evened to a poor man.
1853. Reade, Chr. Johnstone, 261. ‘How daur ye even to me that I’m seekin a lad?’
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., s.v., Would you even the like of that to me.
1885. Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Berna Boyle, x. 97. I’d have knocked any one down that had evened such a thing to you in my hearing.
6. To liken, compare. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. vii. 24. Ȝeefned biþ.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 161. Ðis woreldes biwest is efned to wastene.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 132. Auh þe treowe ancren we efneð to briddes.
c. 1290. Lives Saints (1887), 62. For ore louerd euenede him-sulf to a lomb.
1860. Reade, Cloister & H., IV. 258. Would ye even a beast to a man?
1868. Atkinson, Cleveland Gloss., 164. Even.… To compare, to liken.
II. To be or become even.
† 7. intr. a. To be equal or comparable. Const. to, with. Obs.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 19. Hare weden ne mahen euenen to hare.
a. 1240. Sawles Warde, in Cott. Hom., 251. Helle is … ful of brune uneuenlich, for ne mei nan eorðlich fur euenin þer towart.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 1072. What schulde þe mone þer compas clym … to euen wyth þat worþly lyȝt.
† b. To tally, agree with; also, to be in line with. Obs.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 129 b (J.). Doubled numbring, neuer eueneth with the first.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 22 June. To Westminster, where all along I find the shops evening with the sides of the houses.
8. trans. To come up to, equal. rare.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 58. A toure … that in altitud euened Thee stars.
1607. Topsell, Serpents (1653), 647. In bignesse he [the Drone] eveneth, yea, surpasseth the King himself.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, IV. xiv. (1647), 192. The English Earl … conceived himself to even him in valour and martiall knowledge.
1886. R. F. Burton, Arab. Nts. (Abr. ed.), I. 177. A daughter who eveneth thee in beauty.
† b. To act up to, keep pace with. Obs. rare–1.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. iv. 184. Wee’l euen All that good time will giue vs.
Hence Evened ppl. a.
1847. Bushnell, Chr. Nurt., II. iii. (1861), 275. In the molds of a perfectly evened judgement.
