equally

adv 1: (often followed by `as') to the same degree; "they were

equally beautiful"; "birds were singing and the child

sang as sweetly"; "sang as sweetly as a nightingale";

(`every bit' is informal as in "he is every bit as

mean as she is") [syn: {as}, {every bit}]

2: in equal amounts or shares; in a balanced or impartial way;

"a class evenly divided between girls and boys"; "they

split their winnings equally"; "deal equally with rich and

poor" [syn: {evenly}] [ant: {unevenly}, {unevenly}]

equals

"◦", {ASCII} character 61.

Common names: {ITU-T}: equals; gets; takes. Rare:

quadrathorpe; {INTERCAL}: half-mesh.

Equals is used in many languages as the {assignment} operator

though earlier languages used ":◦" ("becomes equal to") to

avoid upsetting mathematicians with statements such as "x ◦

x:1". It is also used in compounds such as "<◦", ">◦", "◦◦",

"/◦", "!◦" for various comparison operators and in {C}'s ":◦",

"▫◦" etc. which mimic the {primitive} operations of

{two-address code}.

(1995-03-29)