on the level
Honest(ly), sincere(ly), straightforward(ly), fair(ly).
He looks like a used car salesman, but he's really on the level, so you can trust him.
level
UK /ˈlɛv.l̩/ US /ˈlɛv.l̩/
adj 5noun 5verb 5name 1
Definitions
adj
1
The same height at all places; parallel to a flat ground.
This table isn't quite level; see how this marble rolls off it?
the smooth and level pavement
2
At the same height as some reference; constructed as level with.
We tried to hang the pictures so that the bottom of the frames were level with the dark line in the wallpaper.
Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.
3
Unvaried in frequency.
His pulse has been level for 12 hours.
4
Unvaried in volume.
His voice has been unchanged. It has been level for 12 hours.
5
Calm.
He kept a level head under stress.
He kept a level gaze.
noun
1
A tool for finding whether a surface is level, or for creating a horizontal or vertical line of reference.
Hand me the level so I can tell if this is correctly installed.
2
A distance relative to a given reference elevation.
By the end of the day, we'd dug down to the level of the old basement floor.
3
Degree or amount.
This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.
In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
4
Achievement or qualification.
She achieved a high level of distinction.
5
Distance from the root node of a tree structure.
verb
1
To adjust so as to make as flat or perpendicular to the ground as possible.
You can level the table by turning the pads that screw into the feet.
This pitfall, beginning in February and finishing in May, resulted in a drop of about 3 ft. in the platform level; during this period it was necessary to level the track three times weekly, and impose a service slack of 15 m.p.h. The subsidence appears now to have finished, and normal speed is once again permitted.
2
To destroy by reducing to ground level; to raze.
The hurricane leveled the forest.
He levels mountains and he raises plains.
3
To progress to the next level.
I levelled after defeating the dragon.
4
To aim or direct (a weapon, a stare, an accusation, etc).
He levelled an accusation of fraud at the directors. The hunter levels the gun before taking a shot.
Bertram de Gordon, standing on the castle wall, levelled a quarrel out of a crossbow.
5
To direct or impose (a penalty, fine, etc) at or upon (someone) [with on or against or at].
If the right of killing salmon belong exclusively to the King, and consequently to his donatories, why has not the Legislature secured the right by levelling penalties against such as should encroach upon it … ?
How can the Minister reconcile the first statement with the clause, when he is in fact levelling punishment at the woman and not at the errant father … ?
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