Definition of "even"

even¹

/ˈiːvən/

adjective
comparative more even, superlative most even
1. Flat and level.
2. Without great variation.
3. Equal in proportion, quantity, size, etc.
4. (not comparable, of an integer) Divisible by two.
5. (of a number) Convenient for rounding other numbers to; for example, ending in a zero.
  Quotations
  Coles. How many shares have you bought, Mr. Garfinkle?Garfinkle. One hundred and ninety-six thousand. […] Jorgenson. […] How'd you figure out to buy such an odd amount? Why not two hundred thousand — nice even number. Thought you liked nice even numbers.
  1989, Jerry Sterner, Other People's Money, act I
  He put me on the scale in my underwear and socks: 82 pounds. […] I left, humming all day long, remembering that once upon a time my ideal weight had been 84, and now I'd even beaten that. I decided 80 was a better number, a nice even number to be.
  1998, Marya Hornbacher, chapter 8, in Wasted‎, paperback edition, HarperPerennial, published 1999, page 253
6. On equal monetary terms; neither owing nor being owed.
7. (colloquial) On equal terms of a moral sort; quits.
8. Parallel; on a level; reaching the same limit.
  Quotations
  And shall lay thee even with the ground.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Luke xix:44
9. (obsolete) Without an irregularity, flaw, or blemish; pure.
  Quotations
  I know my life so even.
  1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
10. (obsolete) Associate; fellow; of the same condition.
  Quotations
  His even servant.
  c. 1382–1395, John Wycliffe, Bible - Matthew 18.29
verb
third-person singular simple present evens, present participle evening, simple past and past participle evened
1. (transitive) To make flat and level.
  Quotations
  This temple Xerxes evened with the soil.
  1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], (please specify |book=1 to 5)
  [...] It will now be good to Beat, Roll, and Mow Carpet-walks, and Cammomile; for now the ground is ſupple, and it will even all inequalities: [...]
  1669, John Evelyn, “Kalendarium Hortense: Or The Gard’ners Almanac; […] [October.].”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], 3rd edition, London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, page 27
2. (transitive, obsolete) To equal or equate; to make the same.
  Quotations
  The Engliſh Earl [William Longespée the Younger], though he ſtood on the lower ground in point of birth, yet conceived himſelf to even him [Robert I, Count of Artois] in valour and martiall knowledge.
  1639, Thomas Fuller, “Discords betwixt the French and English; the Death & Disposition of Meladine King of Egypt”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge [and sold by John Williams, London], book IV, page 192
  “But aside from that,” I continued, “what have I done that you should even me to dogs by such a supposition? I never yet failed a friend, and it’s not likely I’ll begin with you. There are things between us that I can never forget, even if you can.”
  1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To be equal.
  Quotations
  A redoubled numbering never eveneth with the first.
  1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall. […], new edition, London: […] B. Law, […]; Penzance, Cornwall: J. Hewett, published 1769
4. (transitive, obsolete) To place in an equal state, as to obligation, or in a state in which nothing is due on either side; to balance, as accounts; to make quits.
  Quotations
  Madam, the care I have had to even yourcontent I wish might be found in the calendar of mypast endeavours, for then we wound our modesty, andmake foul the clearness of our deservings, when ofourselves we publish them.
  c. 1604–05, William Shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well, act 1, scene 3
5. (transitive, obsolete) To set right; to complete.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To act up to; to keep pace with.
  Quotations
  Prithee away,There's more to be considered: but we'll evenAll that good time will give us.
  c. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act 3, scene 4
adverb
not comparable
1. (archaic) Exactly, just, fully.
  Quotations
  But on the occasion in question, those dents looked deeper, even as his nervous step that morning left a deeper mark.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 36, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 177
2. In reality; implying an extreme example in the case mentioned, as compared to the implied reality.
  Quotations
  He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.
  1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., page 2
  Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
  1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
  He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.
  1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎
  Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.
  2013 June 29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29
3. Emphasizing a comparative.
4. Signalling a correction of one's previous utterance; rather, that is.
noun
plural evens
1. (mathematics, diminutive) An even number.

even²

/ˈiːvən/

noun
plural evens
1. (archaic or poetic) Evening.
  Quotations
  When the even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with devylles [...].
  1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], Matthew viij]
  When sparkling stars twire not, thou gild'st the even.
  1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 28”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley
  And if any mans seede of copulation goe out from him, then hee shall wash all his flesh in water, and bee vncleane vntill the Euen.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Leviticus 15:16

Definition of "even"

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noun

even2

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even²