even

adj

1. Flat and level.

   “Clear out those rocks. The surface must be even.”

2. Without great variation.

   “Despite her fear, she spoke in an even voice.”

3. Equal in proportion, quantity, size, etc.

   “The distribution of food must be even.”

   “Call it even.”

4. (not-comparable)Of an integer, divisible by two.

   “Four, fourteen and forty are even numbers.”

5. (informal)Of a number, convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.

   “Coles. How many shares have you bought, Mr. Garfinkle? Garfinkle. One hundred and ninety-six thousand.[…] Jorgenson. […] How'd you figure out to buy such an odd amount? Why not two hundred thousand — nice even number. Thought you liked nice even numbers.”

   “He put me on the scale in my underwear and socks: 82 pounds.[…] I left, humming all day long, remembering that once upon a time my ideal weight had been 84, and now I'd even beaten that. I decided 80 was a better number, a nice even number to be.”

6. On equal monetary terms; neither owing nor being owed.
7. (colloquial)On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.

   “You biffed me back at the barn, and I biffed you here—so now we're even.”

8. Parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit.

   “And shall lay thee even with the ground.”

9. (obsolete)Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.

   “I know my life so even.”

10. (obsolete)Associate; fellow; of the same condition.

    “His even servant.”

verb

1. (transitive)To make flat and level.

   “We need to even this playing field; the west goal is too low.”

   “This temple Xerxes evened with the soil.”

   “[...] It will now be good to Beat, Roll, and Mow Carpet-walks, and Cammomile; for now the ground is ſupple, and it will even all inequalities: [...]”

2. (obsolete, transitive)To equal or equate; to make the same.

   “The Engliſh Earl [William Longespée the Younger], though he ſtood on the lower ground in point of birth, yet conceived himſelf to even him [Robert I, Count of Artois] in valour and martiall knowledge.”

   ““But aside from that,” I continued, “what have I done that you should even me to dogs by such a supposition? I never yet failed a friend, and it’s not likely I’ll begin with you. There are things between us that I can never forget, even if you can.””

3. (intransitive, obsolete)To be equal.

   “Thrice nine evens twenty seven.”

   “A redoubled numbering never eveneth with the first.”

4. (obsolete, transitive)To place in an equal state, as to obligation, or in a state in which nothing is due on either side; to balance, as accounts; to make quits.

   “We need to even the score.”

   “Madam, the care I have had to even your content I wish might be found in the calendar of my past endeavours, for then we wound our modesty, and make foul the clearness of our deservings, when of ourselves we publish them.”

5. (obsolete, transitive)To set right; to complete.
6. (obsolete, transitive)To act up to; to keep pace with.

   “Prithee away, There's more to be considered: but we'll even All that good time will give us.”

adv

1. (archaic, not-comparable)Exactly; just; fully.

   “I fulfilled my instructions even as I had promised.”

   “You are leaving tonight? — Even so.”

   “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.”

   “But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark.”

2. (not-comparable)In reality (used to imply an extreme example in the case mentioned).

   “Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes.”

   “Did you even make it through the front door?”

   “That was before I was even born.”

   “He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.”

   “Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,[…]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.”

3. (not-comparable)Used to emphasise a comparative.

   “I was strong before, but now I am even stronger.”

4. (not-comparable)Used to indicate a further degree of comparison.

   “Bob is taller than Alice, but Cameron is even taller than Bob.”

5. (not-comparable)Rather; that is (used to signal a correction of a previous utterance).

   “My favorite actor is Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicholson, even.”

noun

1. (diminutive)An even number.

   “So let's see. There are two evens here and three odds.”

2. (archaic, poetic)Evening.

   “We'll meet at even, when the sun is set.”

   “Whẽ the evẽ was come they bꝛought vnto hĩ many that were poſſeſſed with devyllꝭ / […]”

   “When ſparkling ſtars twire not thou guil'ſt th' eauen.”

   “And if any mans ſeede of copulation goe out from him, then hee ſhall waſh all his fleſh in water, and bee vncleane vntill the Euen.”

3. An ethnic Even: a member of an indigenous people living in Siberia and the Russian Far East.

name

1. A Tungusic language spoken by the Evens in Siberia and the Russian Far East.