mislevel

English

Etymology

mis- +‎ level

Verb

mislevel (third-person singular simple present mislevels, present participle (US) misleveling or mislevelling, simple past and past participle (US) misleveled or mislevelled)

1. (of an elevator or similar device) To fail to move to the exact level of the intended floor.
   • 1950, Maryland Reports: Cases Adjudged in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, page 255:

     Without Moynihan's opinion that the misleveling was caused by negligence, an inference that this elevator did not mislevel or experience other problems absent someone's negligence may be unjustified.

   • 1997, Washington (State). Court of Appeals, Washington Appellate Reports - Volume 89, page 173:

     Although Mr. Cheffer did not testify, Dr . Moise testified she observed elevator 2 mislevel at about the time of the accident, at least she was 60 percent sure it was elevator 2, and Mr. Anders testified he saw elevator 2 mislevel at least 25 to 30 times during the two years before the accident.

   • 1998, Massachusetts Appeals Court reports - Volume 45, page 644:

     On May 21, 1992, Higgins tripped and fell as she was exiting from elevator no. 27 at the John Hancock Tower in Boston when the elevator misleveled, landing between one and three inches below the lobby floor.

2. To introduce an angle on something so that is supposed to be perfectly flat.
   • 1981, Raymond Earl Davis, Francis S. Foote, James Anderson, Surveying Theory and Practice, page 842:

     For instance , if γ₁ = γ₂ = 40° and a theodolite with a spirit level of a sensitivity of 30 " is misleveled by one division only ( i.e. ε_L = 30"), then the error of the measured angled ε_β = 36".

   • 1982, IEEE PLANS, page 247:

     A shortcoming of some designs is the requirement for near level orientation of the case. The launcher, however, may be grossly misleveled.

   • 1988, Bulletin of the Association of Engineering Geologists, page 335:

     Heaving of the shale has caused warping and cracking of the concrete floors, block walls, misalignment of doors, mislevelling of furnitures and equipment and, in one case, personal injury.

   • 2002, The National Jury Verdict Review and Analysis - Volume 17, page 31:

     […] negligent for rollerblading in the dark knowing that the sidewalk was uneven due to misleveling of slabs in several different areas.

   • 2012, Christopher Jekeli, Inertial Navigation Systems with Geodetic Applications, page 160:

     A bias in accelerometer output causes the platform to be mislevelled.

3. To misdirect.
   • 1673, Thomas Jackson, The Works of the Reverend and Larned Divine, Thomas Jackson, D.D., page 1027:

     The wisest oft miscarry in their projects; these men err in their very first attempts, their very intentions are misleveled, in that they think there is no direct way to grace but by declining helps of art or gifts of nature.

4. To assign the wrong level to
   • 1978, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation, Case Studies in Science Education, page 1-104:

     Concept is good; the weaknesses come in when students are misleveled; when parents intervene; when classes are filled above or below so we can't re-level a student.

   • 2006, B. Kojo Laing, Big Bishop Roko and the Altar Gangsters: A Novel, page 306:

     This high foolery, this massive mislevelling of God could end up being […]

Noun

mislevel (countable and uncountable, plural mislevels)

1. The act of misleveling or state of being out of level.
   • 1970, Chreston Furman Martin, J. R. Vetter, Error Sensitivity Function Catalog, page 16:

     On-site radar calibration generally removes a major portion of all hardware-oriented errors such as droop, mislevel, non-orthogonality, etc.

   • 1974, Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports, page 84:

     This error is dependent upon the direction of rotation or mislevel of the dihedral edge of the prism with respect to the theodolite line of sight.

   • 1981, Raymond Earl Davis, Francis S. Foote, James Anderson, Surveying Theory and Practice, page 499:

     There is automatic compensation to correct vertical angles for mislevel.

Anagrams

• levelism