equip

English

Etymology

From French équiper (“to supply, fit out”), originally said of a ship, Old French esquiper (“to embark”); of Germanic origin, most probably from Proto-Germanic *skipōną (“to ship, sail, embark”); akin to Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐍀 (skip, “ship”). Compare with Old High German scif, German Schiff, Icelandic skip, Old English scip (“ship”), Old Norse skipja (“to fit out a ship”). See ship.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪˈkwɪp/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪp
• Hyphenation: equip

Verb

equip (third-person singular simple present equips, present participle equipping, simple past equipped, past participle equipped or (archaic) equipt)

1. (transitive) To supply with something necessary in order to carry out a specific action or task; to provide with (e.g. weapons, provisions, munitions, rigging)
   • 2020 February 13, Roland Oliphant, “'I have lost four years of my life': the desperate migrants stuck in squalid Libyan camps”, in The Telegraph‎:

     More than 40,000 would-be migrants to Europe have been intercepted at sea since Italy began paying and equipping the Libyan coastguard to do so in 2017.

   • 1921, Rafael Sabatini, In Destiny's Clutch:

     it is no more than proper that you should equip us with a vessel in which to pursue the journey which you interrupted

   • 1916, “Indicator Tells Pursuing Police Speed of Automobile”, in Popular Science Monthly/Volume 88:

     A semicircular plate, with the numbers in multiples of five up to thirty miles an hour, is equipped with a pointer, which indicates accurately the speed of the car.

   • 1698-1699, Edmund Ludlow, Memoirs

     Gave orders for equipping a considerable fleet.

2. (transitive) To dress up; to array; to clothe.
   • 1711 July 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, July 2, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 129; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, , volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     The country are led astray in following the town, and equipped in a ridiculous habit, when they fancy themselves in the height of the mode.

     The spelling has been modernized.

3. (transitive) To prepare (someone) with a skill.
4. (transitive, gaming) To equip oneself with (an item); to bring (equipment) into active use.
   • 2002, Prima Temp Authors, PlayStation 2: Hot Strategies for Cool Games, page 69:

     Take it down from a distance with a magic spell, or equip your sword and attack it at close range.

Synonyms

• (to supply with something necessary in order to carry out a specific action or task): apparel, dight, fit out, kit out
• (to dress up): don, dress, put on; see also Thesaurus:clothe

Derived terms

• bind on equip
• re-equip, reequip

Related terms

• equipment
• equipage

Translations

References

“equip”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• pequi, pique, piqué

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from French équipe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Noun

equip m (plural equips)

1. team

Related terms

• equipar

Further reading

• “equip” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “equip”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “equip” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “equip” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.