Forms: 3–6 aventure, auenture, aunter; 3–5 auntre; 4 aventer, auntyre, -our; 4–5 aventur, -owre, awnter, auntur(e, -er(e, anter; 4–6 aventre, auentour; 5 awentuer, awntyr; 6–7 adventer; 5– adventure. [a. OFr. auenture:—L. adventūra (sc. res) a thing about to happen to any one; fut. pple. of advenī-re to happen: see ADVENE. The early Eng. auentu·re soon passed in pop. speech through the forms au·entur, au·ntur, to aunter and anter (still common in Scotl.), while aventu·re remained a literary form. In 5–6 the Fr. was often re-spelt adventure in imitation of L., a fashion which (though it soon died out in France) passed into Eng., and permanently affected the word. After 1600 the last syllable was still obscure, -ər.]
† 1. That which comes to us, or happens without design; chance, hap, fortune, luck. Obs.
c. 1230. Ancren Riwle, 340. Swuch cas, and swuch auenture bitimeð to summe monne.
c. 1314. Guy Warw., 187. To the Lombardes bifel iuel auentour.
1340. Ayenb., 18. Guodes of aventure, ase richesses, worssipe, and heȝnesse.
a. 1400. Metr. Hom., 30. Fel auntour that this enfermer Was sek.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, xxxviii. 109. Go As Aventure wil the lede.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, i. 5. As for aduenture or chaunce it is nothing els but disorder and confusion.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. (1617), 52. Infants … whom the cruelty of unnatural parents casteth out and leaveth to the adventure of uncertain pity.
1699. Dryden, T. fr. Chaucer, Flower and Leaf, 605. She smiled with sober cheer, And wish’d me fair adventure for the year.
† b. Per adventure, by adventure, of adventure (Fr. par aventure): By chance. The two latter are obs., the first now treated as a single word, with sense perchance, perhaps. See PERADVENTURE.
1297. R. Glouc., 375. He rod an honteþ, & per auntre hys hors spurde.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. v. 25. Lest perauenture thin aduersarie take thee to the domesman.
c. 1440. Rom. Rose, 1502. For Narcisus, shortly to telle, By aventure come to that welle.
c. 1430. Lydg., Bochas, II. xxviii. (1554), 64 b. So befell, Remus,… Or auenture, went ouer the wall.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 98. Of auenture with his handes he touched his eyen.
1557. K. Arthur (Copland), I. i. By aduenture he mette Merlyn in a beggers araye.
1675. Hobbes, Odyss., 210. A chopping-board was near him by adventure.
† c. An, on, in, upon, for adventure (aunter): In case, lest, for fear. (Orig. with if, lest, that added.) Obs. (Hence by the addition of the adverbial -INGS, the northern ANAUNTRINS.)
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. III. 72. An auenture ȝe han ȝowre hire here, and ȝoure heuene als.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. II. 295. Anaunter leste þe olde man schulde be holde a lecchour.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 331. In aunter if he might amende.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (1840), 45. In aunter that thou tourne unto displeasaunce.
c. 1430. Syr Generides, 9138. And so thei ride on hunting For auenture of ony spiyng.
a. 1450[?]. Visit. Sick, in Maskell’s Mon. Rit. Eccl. Angl., III. 3. Sinne no more on aunter thow falle wors.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., VII. (1520), 84/2. Upon aventure me sholde lyke some other bysshopryche to gyve hym.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia (1869), 57. In aunters the Englishmen shoulde sturre.
1558. Kennedy, in Misc. Wod. Soc. (1844), 127. Nor be led with hym that is blynd, in aventure ȝe fall baith in the fowsie.
† 2. A chance occurrence, an event or issue, an accident. Also in Law. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 454. Qua herd euer a warr auntur.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XVI. 7327. Achilles þan auerthward þis auntre beheld.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, 141. Them that kepe watche and warde in harneis before the trenche for sodeine auentures.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, I. i. 633. For they a sad Adventure met.
1691. Blount, Law Dict., Aventure is a mischance, causing the death of a Man, without Felony.
1727. Swift, Gulliv., III. i. 181. I was ready to entertain an hope, that this adventure might some way or other help to deliver me.
† 3. A trial of one’s chance, or of an issue; a hazard, venture or experiment. To give the adventure: to make the venture, to try the experiment. To stand in aventure: to remain on trial, to hang in the balance, or in doubt. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 328. Heere in this prisoun, moote we endure And euerich of vs, take his auenture.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, III. 827. I wold boune me to batell and take my bare aunter, Yon worthy wethir to wyn.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 189. By nyghtertaylle dede shuld he be, And tille oure awnter stand ilkon.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froissart, I. ccxxxvi. 334. It behoued them to abyde their aduentur.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scotl. (1858), I. 85. The victorie stude lang in aventour.
1595. Shaks., John, V. v. 22. To try the faire aduenture of to morrow.
1607. Topsell, Four-footed Beasts (1673), 150. Whereupon ‘Patroclus’ [one of the elephants] gave the adventure, and passed over safely.
1673. Lady’s Calling, II. III. xv. 89. Marriage is so great an adventure, that once seems enough for the whole life.
1769–90. Sir J. Reynolds, Disc., xiv. (1876), 90. When we adapt the character of the landscape … This is a very difficult adventure.
† b. At adventure, -s: At hazard, at random, recklessly; (with clause) on chance. Obs.
c. 1420. Cœur de Lion, 2188. The bowmen and eke the arblasters, Armed them all at aventers.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froissart, I. cxcii. 228. Certayn of the garyson … rode forthe at aduenture somwhat to wyn.
1561. T. N[orton], trans. Calvin’s Inst., I. 11. Yet is this no small fault, at aduenture to worship an unknowen God.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 228. Some … marrie at aduentures, to their owne decay, and vtter destruction.
1665. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), III. 172. Nor was what I writ a prophecy at adventure.
1777. Hume, Ess. & Treat., I. 172. Shall this business be allowed to go altogether at adventures?
In later times sometimes improperly printed at a venture as in 1 Kings xxii. 34 ‘A certaine man drew a bow at a venture’ (read at aventure), and in Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. i. 59, where the correct ‘Speake at aduenture’ is printed in the Globe ed. ‘Speak at a venture.’
† c. At all adventure, -s: At random, anyhow; hence, At all hazards, at any risk, whatever may be the consequence, recklessly; and later, At all events, at any rate, in any case. Obs.
1485. Caxton, Chas. the Gt., 193. Eche took an hors of them þat were dede, which ranne at al aduenture.
1540. Whitinton, Tully’s Off., I. 46. We shall do nothyng folysshly and at all aduentures.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhetor., 47 b. Plaie as young boyes or scarre crowes do, whiche showte … at all aventures hittie missie.
1677. Hale, Contempl., II. 195. Be contented herein … and be Thankful to him at all adventures.
1690. Locke, Hum. Underst., IV. xvii. § 2 (1727), I. 316. The Effects of Chance and Hazard, of a mind floating at all adventures.
1760. Jortin, Life of Erasm., II. 76. At all adventures the yoke was to be shaken off.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone Lightho., § 275. At all adventures they were to fit the outside shell of the building.
4. Chance of danger or loss; risk, jeopardy, peril. To put in adventure: to put in jeopardy, to imperil, to risk, to stake. Still in Mar. Insur.
1297. R. Glouc., 64. And þouȝte yt was not god To do hys lyf an auntre.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., C. 242. His seele is on anter.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 606. He wes in full gret auentur To tyne his lyff.
1414. Brampton, 7 Penit. Ps. cx. 42. Thi lyif thou potyst in aventure.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, b vij. For who soo doth, he set his honoure in grete aduenture.
1598. Yong, Diana, 141. For my sake to put thy life in aduenture.
1615. Bp. Hall, Contempl., XXI. 79. Labouring to prevent a common mischiefe, though with the adventure of their owne.
1882. Mar. Insur. Policies. And touching the adventures and perils which the capital stock and funds of the said Company are made liable unto. Ibid. Beginning the adventure upon the said Goods, Freight, and Merchandizes, from the loading thereof aboard the said Ship.
5. A hazardous or perilous enterprise or performance; a daring feat; hence a prodigy, a marvel.
c. 1314. Guy Warw., 35. Now Gii wendeth into fer lond More of auentours far to fond.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1600. To open vch a hide þyng of aunteres vncowþe.
1384. Chaucer, Leg. G. Wom., 953. His aventourys in the se.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, I. 153. In a cuntre was cald Colchos by name, Was an aunter … a wonderfull wethur weghes to be-holde.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arther, i. 1 (1842), 1. In the tyme of Arther thys antur be-tydde.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (1880), 69. Throgh surgye waters with mee too seek ther auenturs.
1617. Sir L. Cranfeilde, in Fortesc. Pap., 42. My many and dangerous adventures in his Majesties service.
1867. Pearson, Hist. Eng., I. 22. The romance of a brilliant adventure.
This passed insensibly into.
6. Any novel or unexpected event in which one shares; an exciting or remarkable incident befalling any one.
1570. Ascham, Scholem., I. (Arb.), 29. Adventures now a days mean experiences in travel.
1608. Shaks., Per., II. iii. 83. A gentleman of Tyre … looking for adventures in the world.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xi. 40. One of the pleasantest adventures I ever met with in my life.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, vi. (1876), 42. To walk alone in London seemed of itself an adventure.
7. A pecuniary risk, a venture, a speculation, a commercial enterprise.
1625. Bacon, Ess., xxxiv. 239. He that puts all vpon Aduentures, doth often times brake, and come to Pouerty.
1668. Child, Disc. of Trade (ed. 4), 54. Whilst interest is at 6 per cent. no man will run an adventure to sea for the gain of 8 or 9 per cent.
1683. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 179. I sold my East India adventure of £250 principal for £750.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone Lightho., § 197. Puzzolana … had been imported as an adventure from Civita Vecchia.
1832. G. C. Lewis, Use & Ab. Pol. Terms, iii. 33. Employing his capital or labour in adventures only compatible with the existence of the law.
8. The encountering of risks or participation in novel and exciting events; adventurous activity, enterprise.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 64. My goste is gon in godeȝ grace, In auenture þer meruayleȝ meuen.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 6. But what adventure, or what high intent, Hath brought you hether.
1600. Heywood, 1st Edw. IV., Auth. to bk., 17. Some citizens, some soldiers, borne to adventer … When we are borne, and to the world first enter.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turkes (1621), 1228. So the assault was begun with great furie and adventure.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 382. I felt a yearning after adventure.
1863. Burton, Bk. Hunter, 87. The auction room … calls forth courage, promptness, and the spirit of adventure.
† 9. (By analysis of the L. elements of the word.) ? A coming, arrival, advent. Obs.
1623. Meade, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 297, III. 162. From a delight they took in so rare an adventure of a Prince of his quality.
1649. Selden, Laws of Eng., I. lix. (1739), 109. In their first Adventure they paced the Stage.
10. Comb. adventure-school, a school started and conducted as a private speculation.
1834. H. Miller, Sc. & Leg., xxviii. (1857), 408. Sometimes he taught an adventure school.
