online medical dictionary | definition of equalize

1. To make equal; to cause to correspond, or be like, in amount or degree as compared; as, to equalize accounts, burdens, or taxes. "One poor moment can suffice To equalize the lofty and the low." (Wordsworth) "No system of instruction will completely equalize natural powers." (Whately)

2. To pronounce equal; to compare as equal. "Which we equalize, and perhaps would willingly prefer to the Iliad." (Orrery)

3. To be equal to; equal; to match. "It could not equalize the hundredth part Of what her eyes have kindled in my heart." (Waller)

4. <machinery> Equalizing bar, a lever connecting two axle boxes, or two springs in a car truck or locomotive, to equalize the pressure on the axles.

Origin: F. Egaliser.

(01 Mar 1998)