Etymology From Middle English chance, cheance, chaunce, cheaunce, a borrowing from Old French cheance (“accident, chance, luck”), from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadere (“to fall, to die, to happen, occur”). Doublet of cadence and cadenza.
1
An opportunity or possibility.
We had the chance to meet the president last week: we have a good/strong chance of making / to make a profit.
There was a fat/slim chance that my letter would arrive in time.
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If you get the chance, try and catch the new production of "Hamlet."
Here was my chance. I took the old man aside, and two or three glasses of Old Crow launched him into reminiscence.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
It never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students and to help people like them all over this country. But now I do have that chance, and I'll let you in on a secret: I mean to use it.1965 March 15, Lyndon B. Johnson, 42:30 from the start, in Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise [on the Voting Rights Act], 3/15/65. MP506., Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum:
2
Random occurrence; luck.
Why leave it to chance when a few simple steps will secure the desired outcome?
My whole life seems to be ruled by blind chance.
3
The probability of something happening.
There is a 30 percent chance of rain tomorrow.
There is little chance of having the chance to approach such a big celeb.
4
As chances probability; possibility.
Sometimes the name is changed because it is thought to be unlucky. If "Chua" is ill, the chances are that there are certain spirits who do not like his name, so the parents alter his name to "Mee," or something else, and then he gets well again.1908, Ernest Young, “Chapter 4 The children”, in Peeps at Many Lands: Siam, London: Adam and Charles Black, page 16:
5
Archaic What befalls or happens to a person; their lot or fate.
But at the moment when everything was going so well, there came one of those unforeseeable chances that reduce even the most circumspectly arranged plots to the significance of a mere toss-up.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
Wild-visag'd Wanderer! ah for thy heavy chance!1795, Robert Southey, The Soldier's Wife:
Etymology From Middle English chance, cheance, chaunce, cheaunce, a borrowing from Old French cheance (“accident, chance, luck”), from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadere (“to fall, to die, to happen, occur”). Doublet of cadence and cadenza.
1
Happening by chance, casual.
No crowd was about the door; no people were discernible at any of the many windows; not even a chance passer-by was in the street. An unnatural silence and desertion reigned there.1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
Heaven knows what pains the author has been at, what bitter experiences he has endured and what heartache suffered, to give some chance reader a few hours' relaxation or to while away the tedium of a journey.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter II, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
chance
adv
Etymology From Middle English chance, cheance, chaunce, cheaunce, a borrowing from Old French cheance (“accident, chance, luck”), from Vulgar Latin *cadentia (“falling”), from Latin cadere (“to fall, to die, to happen, occur”). Doublet of cadence and cadenza.
It chanced that I found a solution the very next day.
if a bird's nest chance to be before thee1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 22:6:
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Once […] it chanced that Geoffrey Riddell Bishop of Ely, a Prelate rather troublesome to our Abbot, made a request of him for timber from his woods towards certain edifices going on at Glemsford.1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XV, Practical — Devotional”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):
Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass of cinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal, in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said something to him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman,"—"quite troublesome."1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XVIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:
[…] while the King and Godwine sate at the table, accompanied with others of the nobilitie, it chanced the cupbearer (as he brought wine to the bourd) to slip with the one foote, and yet by good strength of his other leg, to recover himselfe without falling […]1826, William Lambarde, A Perambulation of Kent:
3
To try or risk.
Shall we carry the umbrella, or chance a rainstorm?
He does chance it in stocks, but he's always played on the square, if you call stocks gambling.1890, William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes:
4
To discover something by chance.
He chanced upon a kindly stranger who showed him the way.
I chanced on this letter.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
5
Belize To rob, cheat or swindle someone.
The car broke down a week after I bought it. I was chanced by that fast-talking salesman.
Be prepared to engage in protests of all businesses nationwide who are violating the copyright act and chancing our members.2017 March 22, Jules Vasquez, “Shyne Urges Artists To Protest Against Businesses Countrywide”, in 7 News Belize:
6
Nigeria To take an opportunity from someone; to cut a queue.