on the level, to be

be on the level

To be honest, trustworthy, and genuine. My daughter's fiance is a very respectable fellow, and his actions are always on the level.See also: level, on

on the level, to be

Honest, straightforward, and sincere. An American colloquialism originating in the late nineteenth century, this term may have come from Freemasonry, in which the carpenter’s level symbolizes integrity. Ngaio Marsh used it in a 1936 novel (Death in Ecstasy), “He’s on the level all right.”See also: on