| 释义 |
▪ I. level, n.|ˈlɛvəl|
Also 4 livel, 5 lewel, 5–7 levell, 6 leavell, 6–7 levill.
[a. OF. livel (13th c.), later nivel, mod.F. niveau = Pr. livell, nivel, It. livello, Sp. nivel, Pg. livel, nivel:—popular L. *libellum = classical L. lībella, dim. of lībra balance.]
I.
1. a. An instrument which indicates a line parallel to the plane of the horizon, used in determining the position as to horizontality of a surface to which it is applied.
There are various forms of this instrument according to the materials used and the art in which it is employed, as carpenter's, dumpy, foot, mercurial, plummet, spirit, surveying, water level, etc.: see these words.
1340Ayenb. 150 He deþ al to wylle and to þe line, and to þe reule, and to þe leade, and to þe leuele. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. xi. 135, I..lered hem liuel [v.r. leuel] and lyne, þauȝ I loke dimme. c1391Chaucer Astrol. ii. §38 Ley this ronde plate vp-on an euene grond..& ley it euen bi a leuel. 1412–20Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xi, To make them ioyne by leuell and by lyne. 1573Baret Alv. L 243 A Leauell, lyne, or carpenters rule. 1594Blundevil Exerc. iv. i. (1636) 443, I..do thinke it better for you to have such a little levell made of purpose. 1616Inv. of P. Oldfeild in Earwaker Sandbach (1890) 136 A Levill and a staffe vjd. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 123 If the Plumb-line hang just upon the Perpendicular dd, when the Level is set flat down upon the Work, the Work is Level. a1763Shenstone Elegy x. 35 The poor mechanic wanders home Collects the square, the level, and the line. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 385 The Level, used by bricklayers, is similar to that of the carpenter. 1866R. M. Ferguson Electr. (1870) 20 A level is..hung on the axis of the telescope.
fig.1578Timme Calvin on Gen. 281 The deeds of Men..are..to be examined by Gods level and line. 1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 11 The lawe in it selfe, is the square, the leuell, and rule of equitie and iustice. 1610Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 239 We steal by lyne and leuell, and 't like your grace. 1641Milton Ch. Govt. i. ii. Wks. 1851 III. 103 Should not he..by his owne prescribed discipline have cast his line and levell upon the soule of man? 1647Ward Simp. Cobler 34 Statesmen frame and build by the levell and plummet of his wisdome.
¶b. Erroneously glossed as = plumb-line.
c1440Promp. Parv. 301/1 Level, rewle, perpendiculum. 1483Cath. Angl. 215/1 A Levelle, perpendiculum (MS. A. plemmett). 1552Huloet, Leuel or lyne called a plomb⁓lyne, perpendiculum.
†c. fig. to give level to: ? to take as one's rule or standard. Obs.
1569J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes xcvi. 166 Neither doo they alowe the Traditions of auncient Doctoures & Fathers, sayinge, that they maie be deceaued and deceaue, but they doo geue leauell to the Churche of Rome alone, which, as they saie, cannot erre.
†2.
a. Level condition or position: horizontality. Chiefly in phrases: on, upon a level, in a horizontal line or plane; the level, the horizontal; in level, on the ground (cf. L. in plano). Obs.
a1400–50Alexander 3261 Now in leuell, now on-loft, now on lawe vndire. 14..Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 580/30 Equilibrium, a lewel. 1594Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 15 Hee commeth to spread it [dung] all ouer the ground, and layeth the same in equall leuill. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xiii. ⁋3 File off the rising side of the Punch, which brings the Face to an exact Level. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. iv, The rising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and a little after, the water still rising, my raft floated again. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. iv, The current of a river whose course is more upon a level.
b. on the level, (in a) fair, honest, or straightforward (way); reliable, true. Freq. as adv. phr. = honestly; truthfully. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1872G. P. Burnham Mem. U.S. Secret Service p. vii, On the level, meeting a man with honorable intentions. 1896Ade Artie vi. 50, I see barrel-house boys goin' around for hand-outs that was more on the level than you are. 1901‘J. Flynt’ World of Graft iii. 89 When a man who has been a known thief makes up his mind to quit stealing and live ‘on the level’, they say in the Under World that he has ‘squared it’. 1932A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms 50 You may be quite sure that the business is quite on the level. 1936N. Marsh Death in Ecstasy xvii. 209 I've had no more'n my fair share. Same goes for Raveenje. He's on the level all right. 1958R. Graves in Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Aug. p. x/3 He also prefers pools to premium-bond gambling—in which a bloke can't choose his own combination of numbers, so how does one know that it's on the level? 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard ii. 47 If you're on the level, we won't object.
1896Ade Artie v. 42 On the level, I'm surprised you ain't on to that. 1914Wodehouse Man Upstairs 63 ‘You look good to muh,’ he said gallantly. ‘The idea!’ said Maud, tossing her head. ‘On the level,’ Mr. Shute assured her. 1923R. D. Paine Comrades of Rolling Ocean iii. 44 This was no fault of mine, on the level. 1931E. Linklater Juan in Amer. iii. iii. 231 ‘You're kidding,’ said Buddy. ‘On the level!’ replied Olympia. 1942T. Rattigan Flare Path ii. ii. 137 On the level. I couldn't really.
3. a. Position as marked by a horizontal line; an imaginary line or plane perpendicular to the plumb-line, considered as determining the position of one or more points or surfaces. on a (or † the) level with: in the same horizontal plane as.
1535Act. 27 Hen. VIII, c. 18 Suche groundes as lye within the leuell of the said water marke. a1682Sir T. Browne Tracts 152 At least twenty foot in direct height from the level whereon they stand. 1712W. Rogers Voy. 367 A Stage is made above the Water, on a Level with the Side of the Boat. 1717tr. Frezier's Voy. S. Sea 93 Two natural Ditches..sunk down almost to the Level of the Sea. Ibid. 313 The Rampart behind it is generally upon the Level with Earth⁓work. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 190 It has been said, that all fluids endeavour to preserve their level; and..that a body pressing on the surface, tended to destroy that level. 1820Keats Hyperion i. 46 To the level of his ear Leaning with parted lips, some words she spake. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xv. 99 The line which marks the level of the ancient ice. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight viii. 116 Light coming from below the level of the head is worse than useless. 1880Haughton Phys. Geog. iv. 170 The level of the lake will continue to fall.
b. to find one's or its level: said of persons or things arriving at their proper place with respect to those around or connected with them.
The primary use seems to be that referring to the tendency of two bodies of liquid to ‘find their level’, i.e. to equalize the vertical elevation of their upper surfaces, when free communication is established between them.
1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 413 We have adopted a cant-phrase, That things will find their level..It is true with regard to prices, and was at first introduced under this acceptation; But with regard to population it is most incorrect. 1809Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ⁋64 It was in vain to fret about it; and I soon found my level. 1817Coleridge Lay Serm. 101 Instead of the position that all things find, it would be less equivocal..to say that Things are always finding their level. 1822Hazlitt Table-t. Ser. ii. i. (1869) 30 A member of parliament soon finds his level as a commoner.
†c. to hold its level with: to be on an equality with. Obs.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 17 Could such inordinate and low desires..hold their leuell with thy Princely heart?
d. A position (on a real or imaginary scale) in respect of amount, intensity, extent, or the like; the relative amount or intensity of any property, attribute, or activity. Freq. preceded by a n. denoting the property, etc., referred to, as danger level, energy level, noise level.
1897Lancet 5 June 1541/1 The pulse had been rising, and by 8.30 p.m. had reached its normal level (72 in the sitting posture). 1926Encycl. Brit. III. 281/1 Nothing is to be gained by amplifying a signal below the ‘noise level’ at the location of the receiver. 1931A. W. Nye in L. Cowan Recording Sound for Motion Pict. ii. 31 The sensation level of any sound reaching the ear is the number of decibels it is above the threshold level of audition. Ibid., A change of the level of a sound by 1 db is approximately the smallest that the ear can detect. 1934G. B. Shaw On Rocks i. 208 By the last returns the export of Spanish onions has again reached the 1913 level. 1935[see danger level s.v. danger n. C]. 1942W. B. Boast Illumination Engin. x. 166 Recommended levels of illumination must provide an adequate safety factor..to maintain visibility well above threshold values for critical tasks. 1948W. E. Styler in M. Beloff Hist. xv. 320/1 Unemployment reached previously unknown levels, and overseas markets collapsed. 1958H. G. M. Spratt Magn. Tape Recording vii. 207 When recording it is essential to provide some means of indicating the level of the signal applied to the tape to ensure that it is neither too high nor too low. Ibid. 208 Low signal levels. 1967[see danger level s.v. danger n. C]. 1968Miller & Sawers Technical Devel. Mod. Aviation vii. 223 The level of general passenger comfort aboard the four-engined jets. 1971Times 17 Mar. 21 (Advt.), I am encouraged by the current general level of orders and I am sure that because of the action which has been taken since the merger, [etc.]. 1973Harrison & Waters Burne-Jones iii. 25 Possessing a high level of natural skill Edward Jones made rapid progress. 1973Nature 23 Nov. 183/1 That could result in dangerous levels of sulphuric acid and sulphates in city air. 1974Daily Tel. 11 Mar. 16 New house starts over the last three months are down to 40 per cent. of their level at this time last year.
e. Physics. More fully, energy level. An amount of energy associated with an atom or other quantized system and capable of being possessed by one of its constituents, being usu. measured relative to the minimum possible energy of that constituent; also, a discrete state of a quantized system characterized by such energy; spec. a state or group of states of an atom characterized by the quantum numbers n, L, S, and J, as distinguished from a ‘term’ (a group of levels: see term n.) and a ‘state’ so called (a constituent of a level: see state n.).
1922A. D. Udden tr. Bohr's Theory of Spectra iii. iv. 116 The values of the atomic energy corresponding to these [stationary] states are frequently referred to as the ‘energy levels’ of X-ray spectra. 1925Russell & Saunders in Astrophysical Jrnl. LXI. 69 When the series limit—or ionization level—can only be found inaccurately..the common convention of measuring terms from this level becomes inconvenient... A desirable alternative might be to set the zero-level at the lowest term and measure the others upward from this... In such cases, the numerical values referred to the lowest level might be called ‘levels’ to distinguish them from ‘terms’, referred to ionization as zero-point. 1926R. W. Lawson tr. Hevesy & Paneth's Man. Radioactivity vii. 75 This suggests that even in the nucleus of an atom there are different energy levels. 1934H. E. White Introd. Atomic Spectra v. 78 [In sodium] just as in hydrogen these energy levels represent certain possible energy states of an electron, and transitions between them represent spectrum lines. 1935Condon & Shortley Theory Atomic Spectra iv. 122 All except s configurations split into two levels, corresponding to j = l + ½ and j = l - ½... The (one or) two levels into which each configuration is split are together said to constitute a doublet term. 1955R. D. Evans Atomic Nucleus iv. 122 After the emission of the β ray, each residual nucleus of Si28 is left in an excited level at about 1·78 Mev above its ground level. 1962D. F. Shaw Introd. Electronics ix. 170 There are important modifications to the arrangement of energy levels when, as in a crystalline solid, the atoms are separated by distances of the same order of magnitude (10-8 cm) as the atomic diameters themselves... The valence electrons may no longer be associated with a particular atom. They become a group of ‘free electrons’ in energy levels which belong to the lattice as a whole. 1962R. E. Dodd Chem. Spectroscopy ii. 78 Transitions between rotational levels [of a molecule] without change in vibrational or electronic energy, give lines in the far infra-red and microwave region. 1970G. K. Woodgate Elem. Atomic Struct. i. 5 The spin–orbit interaction is the largest relativistic effect and is responsible for fine structure. Each term splits into levels whose separations are of the order of 1–1,000 cm-1. Ibid. 6 The levels are split further into states by the application of a laboratory magnetic field... This is called the Zeeman effect.
f. Statistics. In full, level of confidence or significance. A number chosen as the maximum (or minimum) value of the probability with which any statistical result must be false (or true) for that result to be accepted as having been demonstrated.
1925R. A. Fisher Statistical Methods for Research Workers vi. 157 Taking the four definite levels of significance, represented by P = ·10, ·05, ·02, and ·01, the table shows for each value of n, from 1 to 20, and thence by larger intervals to 100, the corresponding values of r. 1931L. H. C. Tippett Methods of Statistics iii. 48 Adopting the 0·05 level of significance, a deviation in the mean greater than twice its standard error is statistically significant. 1937Yule & Kendall Introd. Theory Statistics (ed. 11) xxii. 425 There are..two values of P [sc. a probability] which are widely used to provide a rough line of demarcation between acceptance and rejection of the significance of observed deviations. These values are P = 0·05 and P = 0·01, and are said to define 5 per cent. and 1 per cent. levels of significance. 1950W. Feller Introd. Probability Theory I. vii. 142 However, no sample size can give absolute assurance that {vb}p′ - p{vb} ‹ 0·005... Since absolute certainty is unattainable, we settle for an arbitrary confidence level α, say α = 0·95, and require that {vb}p′ - p{vb} ‹ 0·005 with probability 0·95 or better. 1972Jrnl. Social Psychol. LXXXVII. 39 The situations variable was significant at the ·01 level for all four dependent variables. Ibid. 48 A t value of 2·33 or greater indicates that differences between the high and low criterion group means are significant at the ·01 level of confidence.
g. Contextually in Broadcasting, etc.: the sound level or signal level as it shows up in the different pieces of equipment. Also attrib. in level test, a test of signal levels to determine whether changes in control settings, microphone positions, etc., are required.
1940E. McGill Radio Directing ix. 184 If many sound effects are devised it will be found that a great amount of rehearsal time will be consumed in trying to bring to perfection the levels and balances of sounds against orchestra..under unfavorable acoustic circumstances. 1941B.B.C. Broadcasting Terms 17 Level test. 1962A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 79 The purpose of control of levels and lining-up of equipment..is to make the best use of the region between which noise and distortion overtake the recording. 1966Listener 4 Aug. 181/3 Delius's Requiem..seemed harassed by eccentric studio management, with levels all over the place. 1966B. Glemser Dear Hungarian Friend xiii. 223 We must do a level test... Just talk naturally..and we will see what we pick up. 1969J. Elliot Duel iii. iii. 251 He wants you to say a few words..just for the level.
4. a. Position, plane, standard, in social, moral, or intellectual matters. on or upon a level: on the same ‘plane’, on an equality (with).
1609Daniel Civ. Wars iv. xviii, Aboue the leuell of subiection. 1665Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. xvii. (1848) 269 All these shall sink themselves to his Level. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. Pref., They inspired me with thoughts above my ordinary level. 1693South Serm. 331 Men whose aspiring intellectuals had raised them above the common level. 1710Swift Let. to Abp. King 10 Oct., Lett. 1767 I. 56 Their two lordships might have succeeded easier than men of my level are likely to do. 1712Berkeley Pass. Obedience §20 Wks. 1871 III. 119 The precept against rebellion is one on a level with other moral rules. 1712Addison Spect. No. 295 ⁋4 Where the Age and Circumstances of both Parties are pretty much upon a level. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. i. §13 To degrade human-kind to a level with brute beasts. 1809Malkin Gil Blas i. xii. ⁋5 It was only reducing feasts and fasts to the level of bread and water. 1828Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 189 The popular man stands on our own level. 1832H. Martineau Life in Wilds vii. 94 The calamity..had reduced all to one level. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. vii. 182 A present madness which has brought down wisdom to a common level with folly. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xi. 3 We must place English and Norman writers on a level. 1874Sweet Engl. Sounds 40 Middle English is practically on a level with Dutch. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 348 A much higher level of doctrine and ritual.
b. A plane or status in respect of rank or authority; position in a hierarchy. Freq. with a qualifying adj.
1933L. Bloomfield Language iii. 49 Provincial colorings of standard English are tied up with differences of social level. 1937A. Huxley Ends & Means x. 148 Examples of non-violence on the governmental level are seldom of a very heroic kind. 1944Amer. Speech XIX. 234/1, I have often been amused at the constant recurrence of certain catchwords and phrases in [Government] memoranda... level (‘This matter will be handled at the regional level’). 1945N.Y. Times 24 June iv. 6/4 One of the reporters asks if he knows of any obstacle to our perfect cooperation with the Russians. Quick as a flash General Eisenhower replied, ‘On my level, none.’ 1948Masterson & Phillips Federal Prose vi. 30 Until a program for personnel induction at the infant level can be coordinated with the Federal Prose tutorship objectives, this situation will continue to create embarrassments at the administrative and higher levels. 1952Economist 20 Sept., How long it takes to get even a simple low-level decision. 1955Times 10 May 10/1 The western Foreign Ministers have agreed in Paris to invite Russia to a four-Power conference, though the level at which the meeting should be held is not yet decided. 1960B.S.I. News Jan. 9/2 This sort of progress can only be achieved through full consultation from and with users at the national level. 1962Sci. Survey III. 263 There exist equally interesting relationships between odours and animal behaviours on a different and more profound level. 1971Guardian 24 Sept. 22/7 On instructions from director-level, the estimates..had been prepared. 1974Daily Tel. 1 Apr. 6/7 At the next level of responsibility are the 14 regional health authorities. 1974Nature 17 May 210/2 In talking about the recognition of [alien] life at the microscopic level the decision is largely an aesthetic one. 1974Green & Hooper C. S. Lewis x. 253 The stories can be read and enjoyed on at least two levels: by the child who perhaps knows nothing..of any of the authors whose works Lewis knew; and by the reader who knows many.
c. Linguistics. (See quots.)
1935Trans. Philol. Soc. 61 Now to illustrate this empirical analysis of meaning at the phonetic, morphological, syntactical, and semantic levels. 1942C. F. Hockett in Language Jan.–Mar. 3 Linguistics is a classificatory science. The starting-point in such a science is to define (1) the universe of discourse and (2) the criteria which are used in making the classification. Selection and preliminary ordering of data determine the range of analysis; the choice of criteria fixes the level of analysis. In linguistics there are various ranges,..and two basic levels, phonological and grammatical. 1958C. Rabin in Aspects of Translation 130 Items which are the same at all levels (e.g. numbers) do not function as level-markers. 1959M. Halle Sound Pattern Russ. i. 25 The rules of translation which make up the grammar can all be subsumed under the formula ‘replace x by y under condition z’... A set of rules yielding representations of a particular type is called a linguistic level. 1964E. Bach Introd. Transformational Gram. iv. 59 The word ‘level’ is also used occasionally in another sense to refer to the ordering of rules within a single level and also to the ordering of the PS, transformational, and phonological rules with respect to each other. 1964M. A. K. Halliday et al. Ling. Sci. i. 10 From these three types of patterning are derived the three principal levels: substance, form and context. 1964R. H. Robins Gen. Ling. 12 By extension the term level of language is used to designate those aspects of a language on which at any time the linguist is focusing his attention. 1969Pocket Oxf. Dict. (ed. 5) (Suppl. Austral. & N.Z. Words) 1017 There are ‘levels of usage’ in Australia and New Zealand as there are elsewhere and the cautionary labels colloq., sl. (= slang), etc., are therefore employed here in the customary manner as a guide to currency. 1973Archivum Linguisticum IV. 17 In the field of English intonation studies, bones of contention..spring readily to mind: levels versus configurations.
5. a. A (more or less) horizontal superficies; a level or flat surface. Also fig.
1634W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. 80 To affoord vs meanes to catch Trouts and Pykes, leauing them vpon the leuill [F. sur la terre]. 1725Pope Odyss. xii. 187 The vessel light along the level glides. 1798in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 274 The levels of many of the new streets improperly and irregularly laid out. 1820Shelley Œdipus i. 99 There's something rotten in us—for the level Of the State slopes, its very bases topple. 1840Milman Lat. Chr. III. 367 The level of ecclesiastical or episcopal dignity gradually broke up. 1842Tennyson Morte d'Arthur 51 He, stepping down By zig-zag paths..Came on the shining levels of the lake. 1874J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 86 Of the Chancel levels and steps.
b. the level, the earth's surface. rare—1.
1848Dickens Dombey ii, ‘Where have you worked all your life?’ ‘Mostly underground, Sir, 'till I got married. I come to the level then.’
c. on the level: moderate in ambition or aim.
1790Sir J. Reynolds Disc. xv. (1842) 269 The Caracci..formed..a most respectable school, a style more on the level, and calculated to please a greater number.
6. A level tract of land; a stretch of country approximately horizontal and unbroken by elevations: applied spec. (as a proper name) to certain large expanses of level country, e.g. Bedford Level or the Great Level in the fen district of England; The Levels (formerly The Level), the tract including Hatfield Chase in Yorkshire.
1623E. Wynne in Whitbourne Newfoundland 109 Our high leuels of land are adorned with Woods. 1642C. Vermuyden Disc. Drain. Fens 4 The Levell lyeth in sixe Counties. 1661N. N. (title) A Narrative of all the Proceedings in the Draining of the Great Level of the Fens, Extending into the Counties of Northampton, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and Huntingdon; and the Isle of Ely. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 253 Such Tombs as we met with at Bonaru Level. 1751J. Bartram Observ. Trav. Pennsylv., etc. 64 We..crossed a run and rode along a rich level for several miles. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) I. 284 The levels of Hatfield-Chace, in Yorkshire. 1835Penny Cycl. IV. 138/1 Bedford Level..is divided into three parts, which are distinguished as the North, the Middle, and the South Levels. 1841J. C. Booth Mem. Geol. Surv. Maryland 89 The beautiful tract of land..appropriately called the Levels. 1859All Year Round No. 33. 162 In one level alone, fifteen thousand sheep were drowned. 1890‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 222 The great saltbush levels of the interior.
7. Mining.
a. A nearly horizontal ‘drift’, passage, or gallery in a mine.
b. A ‘drift’; often (more fully water-level) one serving for drainage purposes; also see quot. 1860. For blind, diphead, drowned, etc. level see the first member.
1721Connect. Col. Rec. (1872) VI. 253 Any disagreement that may happen..amongst..lessees..concern'd in the mines aforesaid, about making any levels (or clearing and cleansing the said levels or shafts). 1805R. Forsyth Beauties Scotl. I. 270 This gentleman opened a level or mine from the sea,..it drained the upper coal-works. 1827Jarman Powell's Devises II. 137 The leaseholds had mostly been demised as ‘coal-mines and levels at rents’. 1851Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 35 Level, a drain cut in the bottom stone, to set away or convey water. A pair of levels are a pair of drifts, driven in the water-level direction of the coal, for the purpose of winning coal. 1860Mining Gloss. Newcastle Terms, Levels, gutters for the water to run in. 1867W. W. Smyth Coal & Coal-mining 129 When the coal to be cut away is a short block, as in the driving of levels.
†8. The equinox. Obs. (? nonce-use).
1548Elyot Dict., æquidiale, the tyme whan the dayes and the nyghtes bee of one lengthe, the leuell of the yere.
II. Senses derived from the verb.
†9.
a. The action of aiming a missile weapon, aim. to give level to: to aim (a gun). to lay, bend, take level: to take aim, to aim. Also, the line of fire, the range of the missile. Often in fig. context. Obs.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 36 b, They shotte out of their towers peces of ordinaunce and hurt such as came within there levell. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 388 The thing whereat you lay the levell of your thoughtes and purposes. 1576― tr. Caius' Dogs in Arb. Garner III. 245 Missing our mark whereat we directed our level. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cvi. i, O blessed they whose well advised sight Of all their life the levell straight doe bend, With endlesse ayming at the mark of right. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1321/2 Hir statelie seat is set so high, as that no leuell can be laid against hir walles. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. iii. 103 As if that name shot from the dead leuell of a Gun, Did murder her. 1601― All's Well ii. i. 159, I am not an Impostrue [sic], that proclaime My selfe against the leuill of mine aime. 1602Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 38 If you discharge but one glance from the levell of that set face, O, you will strike a wench. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. iii. ii. 82 My Life stands in the leuell of your Dreames. 1622F. Markham Bk. War Ded. 2 All his leuels are at true Pietie. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 78 How by the Table to give Level to a Piece of Ordnance, without the Gunner's Rule. 1700Dryden Sigism. & Guisc. 142 But in what quarter of the cops it lay His eye by certain level could survey. 1718Prior Solomon iii. 43 Be the fair level of thy actions laid, As temperance wills, and prudence may persuade.
b. That which is aimed at; a mark. Obs.
1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xxxviii. 115 The genoways crosbowes shotte so surely, that lightly they myst nat of their leuell. 1591Spenser Bellay's Vis. iii. 4 So far as Archer might his level see. 1600Heywood 2nd Pt. Edw. IV Wks. 1874 I. 101 My breast the leuell was, though you the marke.
c. fig. Aim, purpose, design. Obs.
a1592H. Smith Yng. Man's Task Serm. (1594) 239 This then is the leuel of our message. ― Humil. Paul ibid. 465 That this should be the leuell of all our thoughts that [etc.]. 1605Play Stucley in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) I. 187 That is the end or levels of my thought.
†10. The ‘sight’ of a gun. Obs.
1611Cotgr., Mire, the leuell, or little button at th' end of a Peece.
11. Surveying. † to make a level of: to ascertain the differences of elevation in (a piece of land). Obs. Also, to take a level = level v. 5 (absol.).[OF. liveau occurs in this sense.] 1693[see leveller 1]. 1798I. Allen Hist. Vermont 4 In 1785 Captain Twist made a survey and level to ascertain the expence of a canal from the River St. Lawrence to Lake Champlain. 1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 454/2 Among the operations of levelling, which, within a few years, have been performed on an extensive scale, may be mentioned the series of levels taken across the lands between the Black and the Caspian seas.
12. Comb.: level-error (see quot.); level-point (see quot. 1839); level-range (see quot.); level-staff = levelling staff; level test (see 3 g); level tube = bubble-tube s.v. bubble n. 6.
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Level-error, the microscopic deviation of the axis of a transit instrument from the horizontal position.
1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) X. 10/2 The height of the *level-point determined on the staff at this place. 1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 453/2 The relative heights of a series of points on the ground are obtained by means of their vertical distances from others which, on the supposition of the earth being a sphere, are equally distant from its centre; and these..are called level-points.
1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Level-Range, (in Gunnery) the same as Point-blank Shot, or the Distance that a piece of Ordinance carries a Ball in a direct Line.
187.Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.), *Level staff, an upright staff five feet long, graduated to feet and decimals of a foot... The staff contains two thinner leaves called vanes.
1890*Level tube [see bubble-tube s.v. bubble n. 6]. 1950J. Clendinning Princ. & Use of Surveying Instruments v. 121 The level tube consists of a glass tube, partially filled with liquid, the inner surface of which is carefully ground.
Add:[I.] [1.] d. Astron. the Level, the constellation Norma.
1899R. H. Allen Star-Names 293 (heading) Norma et Regula, the Level and Square. 1964D. H. Menzel Field Guide Stars & Planets iv. 114 Since they are currently recognized groups, I must include them in the list of 88 constellations..Norma (et Regula), the Level (and Ruler). 1976I. Ridpath Illustr. Encycl. Astron. & Space 143/2 Norma (the level), a small, faint constellation..introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.
[3.] h. A storey, floor, or other horizontal subdivision in a building or other structure; used esp. in relation to split-level buildings, rooms, etc.
1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 42/1 (Advt.), Lower level features striking walk-out family room and sauna. 1973‘A. Blaisdell’ Crime by Chance (1974) ii. 33 It was a big and beautiful store with impressive ‘levels’ instead of floors. 1984R. Rendell Tree of Hands ii. xi. 132 They slept in different rooms that night, he on the..lower level of the first floor. 1987New Yorker 23 Feb. 23/2 Hasbro occupies three levels of a six-story white building. 1990Apollo July 43/3 At present the Musée de la Mode occupies the top five floors of the pavilion, with the visit beginning on the sixth level and continuing on the floors above.
▪ II. level, a. and adv.|ˈlɛvəl|
[f. level n.]
A. adj.
1. a. Having an even surface; ‘not having one part higher than another’ (J.).
1538Elyot Dict., Planities, a playne or leuell grounde. 1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 83 In any levell and plaine place, with your compasse make a circle. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. i. 47 That one might..see the reuolution of the Times Make Mountaines leuell. 1637Milton Lycidas 98 On the level brine. 1663Gerbier Counsel 21 The Hearth of a Chimney ought to lie levell, without a border, raised hearths being dangerous. 1715–20Pope Iliad xx. 272 Along the level Seas they flew. 1725De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 261 We found the vale fruitful, level, and inhabited. 1835Alison Hist. Europe (1849–50) IV. xxv. §17. 429 Switzerland..comprises the undulating level surface between the Alps and the Jura. 1840Lardner Geom. 186 A cylindrical roller passing in one direction only will not produce a level surface. 1871Palgrave Lyr. Poems 92 The level waves of broad Garonne.
b. fig. Of quantities: Expressed in whole numbers. Of a race: Showing no difference between the competitors. (Cf. even a. 16.)
1826Sporting Mag. XVIII. 316 At the close it was considered a level thing. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, Level Tons, weight of mineral wrought in tons, any odd cwts. not being taken into account.
2. Lying in a plane coinciding with or parallel to the plane of the horizon; horizontal; perpendicular to the plumb-line. level lines (Shipbuilding): see quot. 1850.
1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 137 Placing your Instrument (which I name a Geographicall plaine Sphere) Flat, and levell. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 70 The first..graze of the Bullet on the Level-Line, or on the Ground called the Horizontal Plain. 1679Moxon Mech. Exerc. 126 The Work is Level. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., When the instrument is level. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 129 Level lines. Lines determining the shape of a ship's body horizontally, or square from the middle line of the ship. 187.Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) s.v., As applied to a line, this word means any which lies at right angles to one drawn to the centre of the earth, or to a plumb line; or any line which is parallel to the horizon. As applied to a plane, the term ‘level’ signifies any in which all lines drawn in any direction are level lines as before defined.
3. a. Lying in the same horizontal plane as something else; on a level with. Also fig., on an equality with; readily accessible or intelligible to.
1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 16 So that a man inhabiting under..th' equinoctial, do perceive both..the North pole, and..the South, levell with th' earth. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 7 Euery thing lyes leuell to our wish. 1606― Ant. & Cl. iv. xv. 66 Young Boyes and Gyrles Are leuell now with men. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. i. iii. 8 He overshoots such low matter as lie levell to a womans eye. 1643Caryl Sacr. Covt. 14 All our actions ought to be levell with reason. 1703W. Dampier Voy. III. 32 Just by the Landing-place there is a small Fort, almost level with the Sea. 1729Butler Serm. Ignor. Man Wks. 1874 II. 207 We should..apply ourselves to that which is level to our capacities. 1813Shelley Q. Mab v. 11 When the tall trees..Lie level with the earth to moulder there. 1864Lowell Biglow P. Poet. Wks. (1879) 228 Lincoln was master..of a truly masculine English,..level at once to the highest and lowest of his countrymen. 1888Sweet Hist. Eng. Sounds Pref. p. vii, I have done my best to keep level with the latest results of foreign investigation.
b. level crossing: a place at which a road and a railway, or two railways, cross each other at the same level. Also attrib.
1841S. C. Brees Gloss. Civil Engin., Level or Paved Crossing (on a railway). 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 117 Simultaneously-acting level-crossing gates for railways. 1879Sala in Daily Tel. 26 Dec., The perils of level-crossings. 1895Law Times C. 133/2 A man who had been killed at a level crossing by a railway train.
4. a. Of two or more things with respect to one another: Situated in the same level or plane. Also fig.
1601Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 118 Where qualities were leuell. 1795J. Phillips Hist. Inland Navig. 8 To raise or fall Vessels out of one Canal into another, where they are not level. 1820Keats Eve St. Agnes iv, The level chambers..Were glowing to receive a thousand guests.
b. Equal in quality or position. slang.
1894Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 328 I'll toss yer who pays for level drinks.
5. Lying, moving, or directed in an (approximately) horizontal plane: esp. poet., e.g. of the rays of the sun when it is low down on the horizon.
1667Milton P.L. ii. 634 He..Now shaves with level wing the Deep, now soares [etc.]. 1760Beattie Virg. Past ii. 108 The setting sun now beams more mildly bright, The shadows lengthening with the level light. 1801Campbell Hohenlinden 21 Scarce yon level sun Can pierce the war-clouds, rolling dun. 1832H. Martineau Life in Wilds viii. 103 The last level rays were glittering on the stream. 1840Browning Sordello iii. 205 The level wind carried above the firs Clouds. 1851Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 375 The shafts, being bent, bring the body level when at work. 1885–94R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Aug. ii, The level sunbeams search'd the grassy ground For diamond dewdrops.
6. a. Of even, equable, or uniform quality, tone, or style; of even tenor.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. i. v. §21 In which Relation we much commend the even tenour thereof, consisting of so level Lies, that no one swelling Improbability is above the rest. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 221 Their level life is but a mould'ring fire. 1802Sketch of Paris II. lv. 214 Her voice was formerly very full in the medium or level-speaking. 1841L. Hunt Seer ii. 62 A passage..delivered..all in a level tone. 1861Illustr. Lond. News 7 Dec. 569/3 The best of the pair..a nice level animal. 1873M. Arnold Lit. & Dogma (1876) 212 A very plain and level account. 1894Field 1 Dec. 828/1 The owner of a beautifully level pack of hounds. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 56 A leisured and level life.
b. level-dyeing: a method of dyeing devised to prevent unequal absorption of the colouring matter.
In recent Dicts.
7.
†a. ‘Equipoised, steady’ (Schmidt). Obs.
1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 123 It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of wordes..can thrust me from a leuell consideration. 1601― Twel. N. ii. iv. 32 Let still the woman take An elder then her selfe, so weares she to him, So swayes she leuell in her husbands heart.
b. Said of the ‘head’ or mental ‘make up’: Well balanced. So level head, a well-balanced person. orig. U.S.
1869‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. xl. 426 The wanderers were right, and the heads of the same were level. 1870Orchestra 12 Aug. 331/1 To tell a woman her head is level is apparently a compliment in America. 1876B. Harte Gabriel Conroy vi. vii, There is a strong feeling among men whose heads are level that this Minstrel Variety performance is a bluff. 1891― 1st Fam. Tasajara ii. 71 Mrs. Ashwood's head was about as level as it was pretty. 1906‘O. Henry’ Four Million 204 James Williams belonged among the level heads.
8. Plain, point-blank. rare.
1820Keats Lamia 701 He look'd and look'd again a level—No!
9. one's level best: one's very best; the utmost one can possibly do. Also levelest in the same sense, and similarly level worst, etc. colloq. or slang (orig. U.S.).
Of these only level best is standard in the U.K.
1851An Arkansaw Doctor 87 (Th.), We put our horses out at their level best. 1873E. E. Hale (title) His Level Best. 1882Illustr. Sport. News 29 July 467/2 His was an honest old hairy-heeled hunter, no doubt, and did her level best. 1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxviii. 270 The old man..was on hand and looking his level pisonest. 1885Rider Haggard K. Solomon's Mines (1887) 102 Then came a pause, each man aiming his level best. 1891Harper's Mag. July 208/2 The pony will not do his level worst again. 1898H. S. Canfield Maid of Frontier 97 She told me..that she was goin' to do her levelest to make our little home comfortable. 1920Galsworthy In Chancery ii. vii. 186 Val walked out behind his mother, chin squared, eyelids drooped, doing his level best to despise everybody. 1933M. Lowry Ultramarine 205 You've been doing your level best to make life a misery to me since we left home. 1937V. Bartlett This is my Life xi. 179 Everyone was doing his level best to make me feel nervous. 1953R. Lehmann Echoing Grove ii. 89 When the pain nagged he thought about the relation between worry and his acid juices, and did his level best to stop worrying. 1969Listener 24 Apr. 556/1 He did his level best to suppress the views of other members of the embassy.
10. Comb. (chiefly parasynthetic), as level-backed, level-balanced, level-bellied, level-browed, level-grown, level-lidded, level-mouthed, level-ranked, level-tempered, level-topped adjs.; level-compounded a. Electr. Engin., applied to a compounded generator in which the windings are such as to produce the same voltage on full load as on no load (and usually on intermediate loads also); = flat-compounded adj. s.v. flat a. 15; level-handed a., having the same amount in hand; level-lander nonce-wd., a dweller on level land; level luffing, luffing in which the load is maintained at constant height; freq. attrib., as level luffing crane.
1926Kipling Debits & Credits 232 *Level-backed and level-bellied watch 'em move.
1917D. H. Lawrence Look! we have come Through! 66 She Put back her fine, *level-balanced head.
1926*Level-bellied [see level-backed above].
1938Belloc Sonnets & Verse 199 *Level-browed divine Touraine.
1915W. T. Maccall Continuous Current Electr. Engin. viii. 204 The point, B, at which the generator is *level-compounded, i.e. has the same P.D. as at no load, can be made to occur at any one load. 1957A. T. Starr Appl. Electr. vii. 182 An over⁓compounded generator really acts as a level-compounded generator plus a booster. 1971L. T. Agger Introd. Electr. xvi. 298 In the level-compounded generator L the p.d. on full load is the same as on no load, and it varies only slightly in between. This is useful where the load changes rapidly, as in traction systems.
1866G. M. Hopkins Jrnl. (1959) 136 Beech branches..with *level⁓grown pieces of pale window-like green.
1835Ann. Reg. 49 Now we are *level-handed, you've got {pstlg}5, and I've got {pstlg}5.
1864C. M. Yonge Trial I. 65 ‘Much you know of hills, you *level landers!’
1926E. Bowen Ann Lee's 146 Miss Phelps' blue, calm, *level-lidded eyes.
1922H. H. Broughton Electr. Handling of Materials III. 33 Few *level-luffing arrangements have been devised by crane makers on the Continent. 1963R. Hammond Mobile & Movable Cranes iv. 110 Level luffing is achieved by the Babcock ‘swan neck’ supported by a fixed guy rope. 1971Engineering Apr. 65 (Advt.), Level luffing cranes.
1948C. L. B. Hubbard Dogs in Brit. 301 The muzzle is long, powerful and *level-mouthed.
1867G. M. Hopkins Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 153 Very *level-ranked sunset. 1939D. Cecil Young Melbourne i. 23 *Level-tempered and rational, she found scenes and caprices as tiresome as they did.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 16 Crust forming cylindrical *level-topped bundles. 1847W. E. Steele Field Bot. 172 Umbel level-topped.
†B. adv. With direct aim; on a level with. Obs.
1601Marston Pasquil & Kath. Wks. 1878 III. 27 Welcome, Basilisco, thou wilt carrie leuell, and knock ones braines out with thy pricking wit. 1602Shakes. Ham. iv. i. 42 Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, As level as the cannon to his blank, Transports his poison'd shot. Ibid. v. 151 It shall as leuell to your Iudgement pierce As day do's to your eye. 1649Bp. Reynolds Serm. Hosea vi. 92 If he mount a canon, and point that levell against the enemie. 1659Gentl. Calling i. (1697) 4 If he chuse either to look level on the same nature with himself, or direct his eyes upward.
Add:[A.] [1.] c. Of a quantity, esp. a spoonful, of a dry substance or ingredient: even with the brim of the container or measure; not heaped (see heaped ppl. a. 2).
1907Mrs. Beeton's All about Cookery (new ed.) 216/2, 3 level cupfuls of flour. 1936E. Craig Cookery & Househ. Managem. 8 When measuring ingredients which are not liquid..a heaped spoonful equals 2 level or liquid spoonfuls. 1965Observer (Colour Suppl.) 28 Mar. 34/1 One could be pedantic and write back: I mean ‘a rounded tablespoon’ unless you want a thinner soup, sauce or stew, in which case I mean ‘a level tablespoon’. 1982N.Y. Times 17 Mar. c7/1 Subtract two level tablespoons of flour for each cup of cake flour that the recipe calls for.
▸ level playing field n. colloq. (orig. U.S.) a state or condition of parity or impartiality; a situation offering equality of opportunity or in which fairness to all parties is observed.
1979Amer. Banker 8 Jan. 2 [He] said the Oregon BA welcomed ‘any and all competition, on a *level playing field’. 1988Independent 1 Sept. 5/4 The US side is opposed to subsidiaries, arguing they want ‘a level playing field’ if Canadians are allowed more access. 1998P. Lively Spiderweb (1999) iii. 30 They have arrived here from very different backgrounds, too, propelled on to the level playing field of higher education by brains and application.
▪ III. level, v.1|ˈlɛvəl|
Inflected levelled, levelling (U.S. leveled, leveling). Also 5–7 levell, (6 levelle, leavell, -ill, leyvel).
[f. level n.]
I.
1. a. trans. To make (a surface) level or even; to remove or reduce inequalities in the surface of. † Also, to spread or distribute in a flat layer.
c1440Jacob's Well 3 Levell þi ground of þi welle be-nethe wyth þe leuell of equyte. 1509in Bury Wills (Camden) 112 That y⊇ hygheway..be made and levelde at my cost and charge wt grawell and stonys. 1530Palsgr. 609/2, I levell, as a carpenter or mason dothe his grounde, or their tymber, or stones or they square them, with a lyne..This florthe is well leavelled: cest astre est bien aplanyée. 1641–2in Swayne Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896) 213 Leveling y⊇ ground in y⊇ body of y⊇ Ch. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 257 The Foundation being all made firm, and levelled. 1795J. Phillips Hist. Inland Navig. Add. 40 The rubbish, &c. dug in making the canal, is to be leveled on the adjoining ground in a proper manner. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Aristocr. Wks. (Bohn) II. 87 The road that grandeur levels for his coach. 1874Green Short Hist. ii. §6. 92 Street and lane were being levelled to make space for the famous Churchyard of S. Paul's.
fig.1812Gen. Hist. in Ann. Rev. 132 Inflammatory writings inculcating levelling notions.
b. to level out: to extend on a level; † fig. to contrive, procure (an opportunity).
1606G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Iustine xvi. 65 b [Demetrius hoped] to leauell out fit opportunity himselfe to inuade the kingdome. 1644Milton Divorce ii. xiv. 59 To limit and level out the direct way from vice to vertu, with straitest and exactest lines on either side. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 129 Levelled-out, a line continued out in a horizontal direction from the intersection of an angle; or where the cant-timbers may intersect the diagonal or riband lines.
†c. To balance, settle (accounts). Obs.
1660in 1st Cent. Hist. Springfield, Mass. (1898) I. 270 Theire last Rate did not Levell all acots, But..there is still {pstlg}2 17s. 4d. for y⊇ Towne to allow, for y⊇ clearing of all acots.
d. Dyeing. To make (colour) uniform or even.
1874Crookes Dyeing, etc. 549 This liquid [tartar] is employed by some dyers for ‘levelling’ certain colours..upon woollen and worsted goods.
e. Phonology. To alter (a sound) so that it falls together with a similar sound. Usu. const. under.
1884H. Sweet First Middle Eng. Primer 5 The old diphthongs ea, ēa, eo, ēo became monophthongic, ea being levelled under O.E. æ, written e in M.E., and ēa under O.E. ǣ, so that such a pair as the O.E. heard and þæt were both pronounced with the same vowel. 1888― Hist. Eng. Sounds 178 In North. ā has been preserved unrounded up to the present day in the Scotch dialects, where it has been levelled under new long â. 1972English Studies LIII. 503 There is, however, another type of development by which ME ǭr and ME ŏr were levelled under the same sound as early as the fifteenth century.
2. To place (two or more things) on the same level or (horizontal) plane. Also fig.
1563T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 14 You shall leuell your beds and borders of a height and breadth by a line laide out, whereby to weede the hearbes. 1599Broughton's Let. xiii. 44 The two passages were leuelled vpon one floore, the one leading into Elysium, the other into Tartarus. 1863W. Phillips Speeches iii. 44 Gunpowder leveled peasant and prince. 1867Ouida C. Castlemaine 1 Cecil Castlemaine was the beauty of her country and her line..her face levelled politics, and was cited as admiringly by the Whigs..as by the Tories.
3. a. fig. to level (a person or thing) with (now rare), to, † unto: to bring or reduce to the level or standard of; to put on a level, equality, or par with. Also occas. intr. for pass., to be on a par with (? obs.). Also refl.
1603Jas. I in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 79 Sa mon ye levell everie mannis opinions..unto you as ye finde thaime agree or discorde with the reulis thaire sett doun. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. iii. 240 With such Accomodation and besort As leuels with her breeding. a1626Middleton & Rowley Changeling i. ii, To levell him with a Headborough, Beadle, or watchman, were but little better then he is. 1667Causes Decay Chr. Piety v. 85 Those brutish appetites which would..level its superior with its inferior faculties [etc.]. 1671J. Flavel Fount. Life v. 13 The Arians denied his Deity levelling him with other men. 1769De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 7) I. 86 To see a Person of Distinction..level himself with a Groom..is a Thing scarce credible. 1800Mrq. Wellesley in Owen Desp. (1877) 739 In the nature of their duty, they are levelled with the native and Portuguese clerks. 1824B. Travers Dis. Eye (ed. 3) 327 It levels with the proposal to extract through the sclerotica. 1828Sewell Oxf. Prize Ess. 31 His arrogance levelled the slave with the brute creation. 1849Prescott Peru (1850) II. 204 Its heaven-descended aristocracy was levelled almost to the condition of the peasant. 1879Dixon Windsor II. xiii. 137 The recently created dukes were levelled to their ancient rank. 1907Daily Chron. 25 May 1/7 Another halfpenny may possibly be put on the loaf before prices level themselves again.
b. to level up, down: to bring up, down to the level of something (expressed or implied). Also absol., and intr. for refl.
1763Johnson in Boswell 21 July, Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves. 1809Sir J. Anstruther Sp. Ho. Commons 11 May in Cobbett Pol. Reg. 20 May 754 Another party..whose object was to level down all public men to their own very humble state. 1873Hamerton Intell. Life iii. viii. (1876) 111 To which he may level up. 1897Morley Speech 16 Jan., To level up the beer and spirit duties.
c. simply. To lower the position of, bring down.
1712Steele Spect. No. 485 ⁋1 'Tis infinite pleasure to the majority of mankind to level a person superior to his neighbours.
4. a. To bring to the level of the ground; to lay low, lay ‘even with the ground’, to raze. Also to level to or with the ground, in the dust.
1614Raleigh Hist. World i. iii. §5. 41 All downe-right raines doe..beate down and leuell the swelling and mountainous billow of the Sea. 1618Bolton Florus iii. x. (1636) 205 He..levelled Alexia to the ground with fire. 1684Otway Windsor Castle (1685) 13 The Hero levell'd in his humble Grave. 1713J. Warder True Amazons (ed. 2) 33 Here twice ten thousand Houses levell'd are. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxiii, Many noble trees were levelled with the ground. 1807G. Chalmers Caledonia I. iii. vii. 395 Many of those tumuli have been levelled of late. 1870Bryant Iliad I. iv. 106 Should I design to level in the dust Some city. 1878Browning Poets Croisic 12 May-dawn dews Saw the old stucture levelled.
b. To knock (a person) down. Cf. leveller.
1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 94, I ran one of the assassins through the body, Tirlah levelled two more with his oaken staff. 1816Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 187 The unfortunate Mordecai, who had been levelled very often by the rough son of Neptune.
c. transf. and fig. To reduce or remove (inequalities). Also with out.
1642Rogers Naaman 3 Preparing and levelling their rough and high spirits for the Lord Jesus. 1812–16J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 82 These inequalities are soon levelled by a file. 1821Lamb Elia Ser. i. Imperfect Sympathies, The mercantile spirit levels all distinctions. 1856Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. I. vi. 220 Circumstances of trial, which, more than anything else, level all artificial distinctions. 1938Times 24 Jan. 21/4 Later he took up with the heads of the motor industry..the question of their co⁓operating with the Government to level out the production and sales of cars. 1971Fremdsprachen xv. 227/1 Much can be done to level out these differences by proper use of incentive and social purpose funds derived from the profits of enterprises.
d. To get rid of, put away, by levelling. Also intr., with away: to become level.
1910Galsworthy Sheaf (1916) 132 All the natural weaknesses and limitations of the dwellers shall be..levelled away and minimized. 1921― To Let ii. ii. 140 Those two crumpled rose leaves, Fleur's caprice and Monsieur Profond's snout, would level away if he lay on them industriously.
5. Surveying. To ascertain the differences of level in (a piece of land); to ascertain the vertical contour of, ‘run’ a section of; hence, to lay out. Also absol. or intr., to take levels.
1598, etc. [see levelling vbl. n. 2]. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 118 Taking the Profil of a Mountain, is, to level the Slope of it exactly. Ibid. 189 You may level the Hill according to the following Practice. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v. Levelling, We are now able to level distances of one or two miles, at a single operation.
6. to level off (or level out):
a. to bring an aircraft into horizontal flight (intr. and trans.); (of an aircraft) to assume horizontal flight, to flatten out.
1928Lit. Digest 12 May 74/2 A ‘pancake landing’ occurs when the ship is leveled off several feet above the ground. 1928New Republic 15 Aug. 331/2 In a straight dive down, coming out of a ‘stall’..which stopped only when I levelled off and began to fly straight. Ibid., When it gets into the diving position, it responds to all the controls and can be gradually levelled out. 1937D. & H. Teilhet Feather Cloak Murders viii. 135 Climbing in the still blue atmosphere to five thousand feet, the ten-passenger Sikorsky amphibian levelled off above Honolulu. 1952A. Y. Bramble Air-Plane Flight xviii. 306 Some air-planes take a considerable time to reach cruising air speed, with cruising power setting, after levelling off. 1963Level off [see auto-1 b].
b. fig. To cease increasing or decreasing.
1958Listener 10 July 40/1 If the recent signs of improvement in American business are not followed up, if production levels off again and unemployment rises..then [etc.]. 1968Guardian 24 Apr. 11/5 The American war effort can begin to level off and eventually to be reduced. 1968Times 16 Dec. 7/1 Yields have been tending to level off, or even to fall. 1972Guardian 21 July 21/5 There are a few signs..that the property market is beginning to level off and prices are steadying somewhat.
II.
7. a. To aim (a missile weapon); to ‘lay’ (a gun); also rarely, to bring (a spear) to the proper level for striking. Also to level one's aim. (Freq. in fig. contexts.) Const. at, against, † toward, † to, † unto.
1530Palsgr. 609/2 He leavelleth his crosse bowe to shote at some dere. 1586Hooker Hist. Irel. in Holinshed II. 130/1 He charged his peece, and leueled the same vnto the said Peter Carew. 1599Shakes. Much Ado iv. i. 239 If all ayme but this be leuelld false. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. viii, A way how to level and shoot Cannon by night as well as by day. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 712 Each at the Head Level'd his deadly aime. 1695Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth i. (1723) 48 They [the Means] were both levell'd wide, and fell all short of the Mark. 1757Burke Abridgm. Eng. Hist. Wks. 1842 II. 586 The papal thunders, from the wounds of which he was still sore, were levelled full at his head. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxii, Against his sovereign, Douglas ne'er Will level a rebellious spear. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. x. (1879) 219 In the very act of levelling his musket. 1879J. Burroughs Locusts & W. Honey (1884) 57 Levelling his bill as carefully as a marksman levels his rifle. 1883R. W. Dixon Mano i. xv. 48 Forth from Ravenna's fort he levelled aim Against the popedom.
†b. To shoot (a missile) out (of a weapon). Obs.
1592Stow Ann. 235 [He] leuelled a quarrel out of a cros bowe. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 250 A bullet levelled out of a great piece of ordnance. 1664Floddan F. viii. 72 Roaring Guns..levell'd out great leaden lumps.
c. To direct (one's looks); to dart (rays).
1594J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 40 To..leuell the eye..at a gainefull, though inglorious obiect. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 543 The setting Sun..Against the eastern Gate of Paradise Leveld his eevning Rayes. 1725Pope Odyss. xxi. 459 The chord he drew, Thro' ev'ry ringlet levelling his view. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ix. v, The fair one..hastily withdrew her eyes and levelled them downwards. 1817Byron Beppo lxvii, Others were levelling their looks at her.
d. fig. To aim, direct, point.
1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 273 All our actions are leveled..unto two ends. 1591Spenser M. Hubberd 772 All his minde on honour fixed is, To which he levels all his purposis. 1690Locke Toleration ii. Wks. 1727 II. 279 You proportion your Punishments..contrary to the Common Discretion,..which levels the Punishments against refractory Offenders. 1704Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 383 Pompey..made two Laws particularly levelled against him [Cæsar]. 1742Fielding J. Andrews i. xvii, This fellow's writings..are levelled at the clergy. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. ix. 325 Considerable sarcasm has been levelled at the assumption by Henry of this title. 1894Solicitor's Jrnl. XXXIX. 2/2 It is not necessary for the official receiver to level an accusation of fraud against any individual.
†e. Const. inf. To aim at doing something; to intend to. Obs.
1708Swift Sentim. Ch. Eng. Man Wks. 1755 II. i. 65 A few men, whose designs..were levelled to destroy the constitution both of religion and government. 1752Beawes Lex. Mercat. Rediv. 257 My endeavours have been levelled..to obtain this satisfaction. 1809Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ⁋12 This exclamation produced all the astonishment it was levelled to excite in the old citizen.
8. absol. or intr.
a. To aim with a weapon; † occas. said of the weapon. Also freq. transf. and fig. as in 7 (with the same const.). Somewhat arch.
c1500Three Kings' Sons 75 That..they shold leuelle & shote alle at ones. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Mar. 85, I leuelde againe, And shott at him with might and maine. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 59 A wanton eye is the darte of Cephalus, where it leueleth, there it lighteth. 1590Greene Orl. Fur. (1599) B 3 b, I, so they gesse but leuell farre awry. 1597Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 286 The foe-man may with as great ayme leuell at the edge of a Pen-knife. 1604T. Wright Passions i. i. 1 There can be no man, who works by right reason but..he aymeth at some end, he levels at some good. 1626T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 6 Euery Christian is obliged to leuell at perfection. 1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 449 He to his engine flew..And rais'd it till it levell'd right. 1699Pomfret Poems (1724) 31 He levels blindly, yet the mark does hit. 1699W. Dampier Voy. II. i. 72 When they shoot at a mark, they level, and fire at first sight. 1704Pope Windsor For. i. 129 He lifts the tube and levels with his eye. 1728T. Sheridan Persius iv. (1739) 54 The Author in this Satyr levels at Nero. 1879Browning Martin Relph 103 They level: a volley, a smoke and the clearing of smoke.
†b. To guess at. Obs.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 227 If thou couldest as well conceiue the cure of a father as I can leuel at the nature of a child. Ibid. 289 Since your eyes are..so cunning that you can leuell at the dispositions of women whom you neuer knew. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. ii. 41 As thou namest them [my suitors], I will describe them, and according to my description leuell at my affection.
9. To be honest or truthful; to tell the truth, speak frankly, behave honestly or deal straightforwardly (with). slang (orig. U.S.).
1920H. C. Witwer Leather Pushers (1921) 174 ‘Are you levelin' with the Kid in this one?’ ‘We level in all of 'em!’ 1931Amer. Mercury Dec. 416/2 Hymie, the mug, falls in love with her right off, Don't laugh, I'm levellin', honest to God. 1936R. Chandler in Black Mask Mar. 28/1 ‘I was on the cops, but they bounced me.’ I liked his telling me that. ‘You must have been levelling,’ I said. 1951I. Shaw Troubled Air vii. 107 You're not levelling with me. 1962K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed ix. 64 But see that you level with me about the new pusher. 1966E. McGirr Funeral was in Spain 100 ‘Think Songbird was levelling?’ ‘Oh yes... Mr. Songbird wouldn't mislead you.’ 1972‘R. Crawford’ Whip Hand i. viii. 49 I'll level with you. I've been paid to find your brother. 1973Tucson (Arizona) Daily Citizen 22 Aug. 55/8 Not often enough will a company truly level with its employes. It won't say, ‘These are hard times and here's why.’ 1974L. Deighton Spy Story iv. 97 I'd better level with you, son... From now on, control is through me.
▸ trans. colloq. (orig. U.S.). to level the playing field: to make matters fairer, esp. to create a situation in which all those involved have a fair and equal chance; to act in the interests of parity or impartiality. Cf. level playing field n. at level adj. and adv. Additions
Sometimes also with modifying word before playing field, specifying a particular sphere of activity.
1979Amer. Banker 26 Oct. 2 The Washington Bankers Association failed in its attempts to get passage of a Financial Institution Fairness Act, which would have ‘leveled the playing field for all financial institutions’. 1992Tucson (Arizona) Weekly 28 Oct. 12/3 Sometimes the lack of term limits means it's hard to oust bad or mediocre lawmakers, but leveling the electoral playing field would be better accomplished by enacting meaningful campaign spending limits. 2000M. Ondaatje Anil's Ghost 25 She was sure that this choice of subject was intentional—to level the playing field between the foreign-trained and the locally trained.
▪ IV. ˈlevel, v.2 Obs. exc. dial.
[? Corruption of levy, by association with prec.; but cf. OF. levaille tax; also It. livellare to levy (Florio, 1611).]
= levy v.
1552T. Barnabe in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 202 The chefe of the Frenche kinges revenewe is levelled uppon salte. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Level, to assess. Ex. ‘I will pay whatever you level upon me’. 1886Elworthy W. Som. Word-bk. s.v., Mr. Jones to shop 've a level'd a distress 'pon 'em vor the quarter's rent. |