Definition of Get even

1. Verb. Compensate; make the score equal.

Exact synonyms: Equalise, Equalize
Generic synonyms: Hit, Rack Up, Score, Tally
Derivative terms: Equalisation, Equalization, Equalizer

2. Verb. Take revenge or even out a score. "I cannot accept the defeat--I want to get even"
Exact synonyms: Get Back
Generic synonyms: Avenge, Retaliate, Revenge
Specialized synonyms: Fix, Get, Pay Back, Pay Off

Definition of Get even

1. Verb. (idiomatic) To get revenge. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Get Even

get blood from a stone
get blood out of a stone
get by
get carried away
get changed
get cold feet
get cracking
get down
get down to business
get down with
get dressed
get drunk
get even (current term)
get fresh
get going
get high
get hitched
get hitched with
get hold
get hold of
get in
get in on
get in on the act
get in someone's hair
get in the way

Literary usage of Get even

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind by Herbert George Wells (1922)
"... lowering themselves to the level of equality and fellowship with Macedonians— a people from whom "we" do not get "even a decent slave. ..."

2. Football Days: Memories of the Game and of the Men Behind the Ball by William Hanford Edwards (1916)
"Rinehart tells how he tried to get even with Sam Boyle. "I went into professional football, after leaving Lafayette," says Rinehart. ..."

3. How Jesus Met Life Questions / Harrison S. Elliott by Harrison Sacket Elliott (1920)
"CHAPTER VI How Should a Christian get even? Jesus Establishes a New Type of Revenge The last two examples given by Jesus have to do with the way a man ..."

4. A History of the City and County of Cork by Mary Francis Cusack (1875)
"... which he cannot get even had he the money to buy them —The freemen of Cork petition the House of Commons—Smith's last entry, and a curious entry from ..."

5. A Dictionary of Kashmiri Proverbs & Sayings: Explained and Illustrated from by James Hinton Knowles (1885)
"Agar Kh-in entered into a rat's hole, and there he did not get, even, a bran-cake. In extremis. Once Agar Khan was reduced to such distress that he was glad ..."

6. Annual Report by Ohio State Board of Agriculture (1906)
"I pressed my teeth determinedly and I said to myself, "If the farmers don't hear I will get even," and I did get even. They said: "What is the use of ..."

7. Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany by William Jackson Hooker (1855)
"... for perhaps the species are many more, and yet, though I offered great inducements, I could not get even a leaf: of course if I had gone up with time at ..."

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