countervail

verb

1. (obsolete)To have the same value or number as.

   “Nay could their numbers counteruaile the ſtars Or [euer] driſling drops of April ſhowers, Or withered leaues that Autume ſhaketh down, Yet would the Souldane by his conquering power: So ſcatter and conſume them in his rage, That not a man ſhal liue to rue their fall.”

2. To counter, counteract, counterbalance, neutralize, or negate.

   “It cannot counteruaile the exchange of joy / That one ſhort minute giues me in her ſight:”

   “[…] should I find thine ear closed and thy heart hardened, what hope for myself could countervail the despair for thee?”

   “When justice stops being effective (or when crimes of corruption stop being punished) and when political vio­lence is no longer a threat, there is nothing left to cause fear in those who govern shamelessly, that is, buoyed by a mood they aren’t in control of and that no one is on hand to countervail.”

3. To compensate for.

   “I am one of those who thinke their fruit can no way countervaile this losse.”

   “countervail a very confiderable Advantage to all Men of Letters”

   “If [Wilfred] Owen preserves his youthful romanticism, or at least a shell of it, he uses it to countervail the horrifying scenes he describes, just as he poses his own youth against the age-old spectacle of men dying in pain and futility.”