Part 810

All that Garnet had to say for him was that he supposed he meant to equivocate.

Bp. Stillingfleet.

Syn. -- To prevaricate; evade; shuffle; quibble. See Prevaricate.

E*quiv"o*cate (?), v. t. To render equivocal or ambiguous.

He equivocated his vow by a mental reservation.

Sir G. Buck.

E*quiv`o*ca"tion (?), n. The use of expressions susceptible of a double signification, with a purpose to mislead.

There being no room for equivocations, there is no need of distinctions.

Locke.

Syn. -- Prevarication; ambiguity; shuffling; evasion; guibbling. See Equivocal, a., and Prevaricate, v. i.

E*quiv"o*ca`tor (?), n. One who equivocates.

Here's an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, yet could not equivocate to heaven.

Shak.

E*quiv"o*ca*to*ry (?), a. Indicating, or characterized by, equivocation.

{ Eq"ui*voque, Eq"ui*voke } (?), n. [F. équivoque. See Equivocal.] 1. An ambiguous term; a word susceptible of different significations. Coleridge.

2. An equivocation; a guibble. B. Jonson.

E*quiv"o*rous (?), a. [L. equus horse + vorare to eat greedily.] Feeding on horseflesh; as, equivorous Tartars.

||E"quus (?), n. [L., horse.] (Zoöl.) A genus of mammals, including the horse, ass, etc.

-er (?). 1. [AS. -ere; akin to L. -arius.] The termination of many English words, denoting the agent; -- applied either to men or things; as in hater, farmer, heater, grater. At the end of names of places, -er signifies a man of the place; as, Londoner, i. e., London man.

2. [AS. -ra; akin to G. -er, Icel. -are, -re, Goth. -iza, -&?;za, L. - ior, Gr. &?;, Skr. -yas.] A suffix used to form the comparative degree of adjectives and adverbs; as, warmer, sooner, lat(e)er, earl(y)ier.

E"ra (?), n.; pl. Eras (#). [LL. aera an era, in earlier usage, the items of an account, counters, pl. of aes, aeris, brass, money. See Ore.] 1. A fixed point of time, usually an epoch, from which a series of years is reckoned.

The foundation of Solomon's temple is conjectured by Ideler to have been an era.

R. S. Poole.

2. A period of time reckoned from some particular date or epoch; a succession of years dating from some important event; as, the era of Alexander; the era of Christ, or the Christian era (see under Christian).

The first century of our era.

M. Arnold.

3. A period of time in which a new order of things prevails; a signal stage of history; an epoch.

Painting may truly be said to have opened the new era of culture.