Meaning
Honest, sincere and straightforward, said of people and offers ('her proposal looked on the level') or of statements ('he told us on the level'). Mainly American and informal; frequently a question checking sincerity, as in 'is this deal on the level?' Informal, mid-century-flavoured slang; either vouches for someone's honesty or doubts it. Regional use: American English.
Origin
A 19th-century American colloquialism. Christine Ammer's Facts on File Dictionary of Cliches defines it as straightforward and sincere, dates it to the nineteenth century as an American phrase, and says it 'may have come from Freemasonry', in which the builder's level is an emblem of equality and fair dealing, lodges meeting 'on the level'. That derivation is plausible but unproven: figurative uses of 'level' for fairness predate the lodge formula, so Masonic symbolism may have reinforced an existing expression rather than created it. Wiktionary, which glosses the phrase as a synonym of the more openly Masonic 'on the square', lists citations only from 1912 onward, so the precise path from carpenter's tool to slang for honesty cannot be documented step by step.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- is he on the level?
- level with me
- on the square (related Masonic synonym)
- to be on the level
Usage Examples
- The buyer seemed on the level, so we skipped the survey at our peril.
- On the level, I never expected the bonus actually to be paid.
- Are the organizers being on the level about the ticket refunds?