



In arithmetic and geometry, a number multiplied by the same number or quantity. Hence, equimultiples are always in the same ratio to each other, as the simple numbers or quantities before multiplication. If 6 and 9 are multiplied by 4, the multiples, 24 and 36, will be to each other as 6 to 9. Encyc.

E'QUINE, or E-QUI'NAL, a. [L. eiqunus, from equus, a horse.]

Pertaining to a horse; denoting the horse kind. Haywood. The shoulders, body, thighs, and mane are equine; the head completely bovine. Barrow's Travels.

E-QUI-NEC'ES-SA-RY, a. [L. æquus and necessary.]

Necessary or needful in the same degree. Hudibras.

E-QUI-NOC'TIAL, a. [L. æquus, equal, and nox, night.]

  1. Pertaining to the equinoxes; designating an equal length of day and night; as, the equinoctial line.
  2. Pertaining to the regions or climate of the equinoctial line or equator; in or near that line; as, equinoctial heat; an equinoctial sun; equinoctial wind.
  3. Pertaining to the time when the sun enters the equinoctial points; as, an equinoctial gale or storm, which happens at or near the equinox, in any part of the world.
  4. Equinoctial flowers, flowers that open at a regular stated hour. Martyn.

E-QUI-NOC'TIAL, n. [for equinoctial line.]

In astronomy, a great circle of the sphere, under which the equator moves in its diurnal course. This should not be confounded with the equator, as there is a difference between them; the equator being movable, and the equinoctial immovable; the equator being drawn about the convex surface of the sphere, and the equinoctial on the concave surface of the magnus orbis. These words, however, are often confounded. When the sun, in its course through the ecliptic, comes to this circle, it makes equal days and nights in all parts of the globe. The equinoctial then, is the circle which the sun describes, or appears to describe, at the time the days and nights are of equal length, viz. about the 21st of March and 23d of September. Encyc. Equinoctial points, are the two points wherein the equator and ecliptic intersect each other; the one, being in the first point of Aries, is called the vernal point or equinox; the other, in the first point of Libra, the autumnal point or equinox. Encyc. Equinoctial dial, is that whose plane lies parallel to the equinoctial. Encyc. Equinoctial time, is reckoned from a fixed instant common to all the world.


In the direction of the equinox. Brown.

E'QUI-NOX, n. [L. æquus, equal, and nox, night.]

The precise time when the sun enters one of the equinoctial points, or the first point of Aries, about the 21st of March, and the first point of Libra, ahout the 23d of September, making the day and the night of equal length. These are called the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. These points are found to be moving backward or westward, at the rate of 50" of a degree in a year. This is called the precession of the equinoxes. Encyc.

E-QUI-NU'ME-RANT, a. [L. æquus, equal, and numerus, number.]

Having or consisting of the same number. [Little used.] Arbuthnot.

E-QUIP', v.t. [Fr. equiper; Arm. aqipa, aqipein; Sp. equipar; Ch. יקף, Aphel אקיף; to surround, to gird; perhaps the same root as Eth. ሐቀፈ (חקף) to embrace.]

  1. Properly, to dress; to habit. Hence, to furnish with or a complete suit of arms, for military service. Thus we say, to equip men or troops for war; to equip a body of infantry or cavalry. But the word seems to include not only arms, but clothing, baggage, utensils, tents, and all the apparatus of an army, particularly when applied to a body of troops. Hence, to furnish with arms and warlike apparatus; as, to equip a regiment.
  2. To furnish with men, artillery and munitions of war, as a ship. Hence, in common language, to fit for sea; to furnish with whatever is necessary for a voyage.


  1. The furniture of a military man, particularly arms and their appendages.
  2. The furniture of an army or body of troops, infantry or cavalry; including arms, artillery, utensils, provisions, and whatever is necessary for a military expedition. Camp equipage includes tents, and every thing necessary for accommodation in camp. Field equipage consists of arms, artillery, wagons, tumbrils, &c.
  3. The furniture of an armed ship, or the necessary preparations for a voyage; including cordage, spars, provisions, &c.
  4. Attendance, retinue, as, persons, horses, carriages, &c.; as, the equipage of a prince.
  5. Carriage of state; vehicle; as, celestial equipage. Milton.
  6. Accouterments; habiliments; ornamental furniture. Prior.


Furnished with equipage; attended with a splendid retinue. Cowper. Spenser.

E-QUI-PEN'DEN-CY, n. [L. æquus, equal; and pendeo, to hang.]

The act of hanging in equipoise; a being not inclined or determined either way. South.


  1. The act of equipping, or fitting for a voyage or expedition.
  2. Any thing that is used in equipping; furniture; habiliment; warlike apparatus; necessaries for an expedition, or for a voyage; as, the equipments of a ship or an army.

E'QUI-POISE, n. [s as z. L. æquus, equal, and Fr. poids, or rather W. pwys, weight. See Poise.]

Equality of weight or force; hence, equilibrium; a state in which the two ends or sides of a thing are balanced. Hold the scales in equipoise. The mind may be in a state of equipoise, when motives are of equal weight.

E-QUI-POL'LENCE, or E-QUI-POL'LEN-CY, n. [L. æquus and pollentia, power, polleo, to be able.]

  1. Equality of power or force.
  2. In logic, an equivalence between two or more propositions; that is, when two propositions signify the same thing, though differently expressed. Encyc.

E-QUI-POL'LENT, a. [supra.]

Having equal power or force; equivalent. In logic, having equivalent signification. Bacon.


With equal power. Barrow.

E-QUI-PON'DER-ANCE, n. [L. æquus, equal, and pondus, weight.]

Equality of weight; equipoise.

E-QUI-PON'DER-ANT, a. [supra.]

Being of the same weight. Locke.

E-QUI-PON'DER-ATE, v.i. [L. æquus, equal, and pondero, to weigh.]

To be equal in weight; to weigh as much as another thing. Wilkins.


Having equal weight on both sides. Glanville.


Furnished with habiliments, arms, and whatever is necessary for a military expedition, or for a voyage or cruise.


Furnishing with habiliments or warlike apparatus; supplying with things necessary for a voyage.

E-QUI-SE'TUM, n. [plur. Equiseta. L. equus, a horse, and seta, a bristle.]

In botany, a genus of plants, the species of which are called horse-tail.


An equal sounding; a name by which the Greeks distinguished the consonances of the octave and double octave. Busby.