equalizer

Etymology

It is formed from English equalize + -er, with the agent-noun suffix.^[2][3][4][5] Equalize, recorded from the 1580s, comes from the adjective equal with the suffix -ize,^[3][2] and the OED compares Middle French equaliser, recorded from the mid-15th century.^[2] The revised OED entry (2023) dates the noun to 1624,^[2] much earlier than the 1792 of Etymonline and Merriam-Webster,^[3][6] the 1785–95 of Dictionary.com^[5] and the late 18th century of the Shorter Oxford.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A thing that makes things equal, or a person who seeks to make things equal, especially one who advocates social equality: 1624, in J. Penkethman's translation of epigrams.^[2] The Shorter Oxford's first sense, a person who aspires to be equal in rank or power to another, is rare.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From 1804 the word named mechanisms that make a force or load uniform, for example on gears or other machine parts;^[2] Merriam-Webster lists such devices as a bar linking the whippletrees of a vehicle so that the draught animals pull evenly, and a beam that spreads a railway car's weight between two axles.^[6] In football, an equalizer has been a goal that levels the score since 1891,^[2] although Etymonline dates the sports sense only by 1930.^[3] In electrical engineering it has named, since 1920, a network that corrects the frequency response of a line or amplifier,^[2] later the tone control of an audio system.^[7][8] In American criminal slang the word became a weapon: Green's Dictionary of Slang finds it for a bomb in 1899 and for a gun in 1920, and explains the name by the weapon's bringing everyone to the same level.^[9] The OED's first record of the gun sense is from 1929,^[2] while Etymonline dates it to about 1900.^[3]

Timeline

• 1624 – a thing that equalizes; a person who seeks equality.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1792.^[3][6]
• 1804 – a mechanism that equalizes the power or load on machine parts.^[2]
• 1891 – in football, a goal that levels the score.^[2]
• 1899 – slang, any weapon, here a bomb.^[9]
• 1920 – an electrical network that modifies frequency response.^[2]
• 1920 – slang, a gun.^[9] The OED's first quotation is from 1929.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that makes things equal, especially a device that balances opposing forces or spreads a load evenly, such as a bar joining the whippletrees of a wagon.^[10][6][2]
2. An electronic circuit or control that adjusts a signal's response at different frequencies, to reduce distortion or shape the sound of audio equipment.^{[10][7][8][2]}
3. (sport) A goal or point that brings the score level: Their striker headed in the equalizer in the last minute.^[10][8][2]
4. (slang) A gun, or any other weapon.^{[10][7][9][2]}

Related words

• equalize
• equal
• equality

Usage notes

In British English it is also spelled equaliser.^[10][6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins