chancy.html - adj.
(chancier, chanciest) subject to chance; uncertain; risky.

chancily adv. chanciness n.

chancy.html - See: BY CHANCE, FAT CHANCE, STAND A CHANCE, TAKE A CHANCE.

chancy.html - {v. phr.} To be willing to risk an action whose outcome is uncertain. * /"Should we take the boat out in such stormy weather?" Jim asked. "We can chance it," Tony replied. "We have enough experience."/

chancy.html - {v.} To happen to find or meet; find or meet by accident. * /On our vacation we chanced upon an interesting antique store./ * /Mary dropped her ring in the yard, and Mother chanced on it as she was raking./ Syn.: HAPPEN ON. Compare: RUN INTO.

chancy.html - n.,
adj., & v. --n.

1 a a possibility (just a chance we will catch the train). b (often in pl.) probability (the chances are against it).
2 a risk (have to take a chance).
3 a an undesigned occurrence (just a chance that they met). b the absence of design or discoverable cause (here merely because of chance).
4 an opportunity (didn't have a chance to speak to him).
5 the way things happen; fortune; luck (we'll just leave it to chance).
6 (often Chance) the course of events regarded as a power; fate (blind Chance rules the universe).
7 Cricket an opportunity for dismissing a batsman.

--adj.

fortuitous, accidental (a chance meeting).

--v.

1 tr. colloq. risk (we'll chance it and go).
2 intr. (often foll. by that + clause, or to + infin.) happen without intention (it chanced that I found it; I chanced to find it).

by any chance as it happens; perhaps. by chance without design; unintentionally. chance one's arm make an attempt though unlikely to succeed. chance on (or upon) happen to find, meet, etc. game of chance a game decided by luck, not skill. the off chance the slight possibility. on the chance (often foll. by of, or that + clause) in view of the possibility. stand a chance have a prospect of success etc. take a chance (or chances) behave riskily; risk failure. take a (or one's) chance on (or with) consent to take the consequences of; trust to luck. [ME f. AF ch(e)aunce, OF chêance chêoir fall ult. f. L cadere]

chancy.html - n.
(pl. -eys)
1 Law a fight, esp. homicidal, beginning unintentionally.
2 inadvertency. [AF chance medlee (see MEDDLE ) mixed chance]