Also 6 Sc. evend. [a. OF. event, ad. L. ēvent-us occurrence, issue, f. ēvenīre to come out, happen, result, f. ē- out + venīre to come.]
1. The (actual or contemplated) fact of anything happening; the occurrence of. Now chiefly in phrase In the event of: in the case (something specified) should occur.
1601–2. Fulbecke, 1st Pt. Parall., To Rdr. *iij b. I could not but expect the euent of so good a thing.
Mod. In the event of the earl’s death, the title will lapse.
† b. In point of event: in point of fact, as things have actually happened. Obs.
1676. Allen, Addr. Nonconf., 29. And … we find in point of event, that the ordinary way … hath been [etc.].
2. Anything that happens, or is contemplated as happening; an incident, occurrence. The course of events: see COURSE.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., V. iii. 204. To Order well the State, That like Euents, may ne’er it Ruinate.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IV. 140. The dangerous euents in darke and tempestuous nights, which happen there [in this sea].
1650. Cromwell, Lett., 12 Sept. (Carlyle). [We do not think] of the hand of the great God in this mighty and strange appearance of His; but can slightly call it an ‘event’!
1736. Butler, Anal., Introd. Wks. 1874, I. 2. This observation forms … a presumption … that such event has or will come to pass.
1803. Campbell, Lochiel’s Warning. Coming events cast their shadows before.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xix. Her affection, awakened by the events of the morning.
1876. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk., I. I. ii. 86. An utter change in the political events which came after … would have been the result.
b. pl. (without article) for ‘the course of events’; also occas. in sing. the event.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (ed. 3), I. 237. I resolv’d to put my self upon the Watch, to see them when they came on Shore, and leave the rest to the Event.
1842. Miall, Nonconf., II. 1. Events have proved us right.
1879. Dixon, Windsor, II. xii. 130. Nature and events had made him king.
c. In mod. use chiefly restricted to occurrences of some importance; hence colloquial uses such as quite an event. (Cf. Fr. un véritable événement.)
1883. Mrs. Bishop, in Leisure H., 84/2. The first sight of a real mangrove swamp is an event.
d. In the doctrine of chances: (a.) Any one of the possible (mutually exclusive) occurrences, some one of which will happen under stated conditions, and the relative probability of which may be computed. Compound event: one that consists in the combined occurrence of two or more simple events. (b.) Occasionally, a trial or hazard, which will result in some one of several different ways (‘events’ in the preceding sense).
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 96. One of the events, A, B, C, &c. must happen at every trial, and each event brings with it a specified gain or loss.
1885. Crofton, in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), XIX. 771. Determination of the probabilities of Compound Events, when the probabilities of the simple events on which they depend are known. Ibid. Let there be an event which must turn out in one of two ways, W and B.
e. In sporting language: Something on the issue of which money is staked; also, one of the items in a programme of sports.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II. 66. The young fellows were making an ‘event’ out of Ethel’s marriage and sporting their money freely on it.
1866. Trollope, Belton Est., I. i. 7. Trusting to the next event at Newmarket to set him right.
1884. Cyclist, 13 Feb., 247/2. The Amateur Athletic Association passed a rule prohibiting the holding of professional events at amateur athletic meetings.
1884. Sat. Rev., 12 July, 50. Of the leading events Oxford, Cambridge, and Eton each won one.
3. That which follows upon a course of proceedings; the outcome, issue; that which proceeds from the operation of a cause; a consequence, result. In (the) event: in (the) result.
1573. Sempill Ballates, 187. Weill micht the counsals beir ane gude euend.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 247. Touching the originall, proceeding, and event of these wars I spare to speake much.
1611. Heywood, Gold. Age, I. i. B j b. Causes best friended haue the best euent.
1612. T. Taylor, Comm. Titus ii. 4. 383. Too much indulgence … is a cruell loue in the euent.
1645. Fuller, Good Th. in Bad T. (1841), 24. His courtesy in intention proved a mischief in event.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 113, ¶ 3. A beautiful Creature in a Widow’s Habit sat in Court, to hear the Event of a Cause concerning her Dower.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 96. We have surprising accounts … of the recovery of persons, without the least prospect of a favourable event.
1820. Scott, Ivanhoe, xiii. He then took his aim … and the multitude awaited the event in breathless silence.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 612. The event of his enterprise was doubtful.
1866. Motley, Dutch Rep., II. ii. 146. They openly, and in the event successfully, resisted the installation of the new prelate.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 53. There is no merit … in learning wisdom after the event.
† b. Undesigned or incidental result. nonce-use.
1644. H. Parker, Jus Pop., 25. The Pilot wafts himself by event [Aristotle’s κατὰ συμβεβηκός, Phys. II. 1], it being impossible that he should waft others, if hee were absent.
† 4. What ‘becomes of’ or befalls (a person or thing); fate. Obs.
1513. More, Edw. V. (1641), Ep. Ded. 2. The miserable and wretched end and event of the other.
1591. Spenser, Teares Muses, 143. A ship in midst of tempest left … Full sad and dreadfull is that ships event.
1611. Bible, Eccl. ix. 2. All things come alike to all: there is one euent to the righteous and to the wicked, [etc.].
1674. Owen, Holy Spirit (1693), 129. They differ as unto the Event they may come unto.
5. Idiomatic phrases, with mixed notion of 2 and 3. At (or † in) all events: whatever happens or happened; in any case, at any rate. † Upon all events: for every emergency.
1672. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 80. I had put all things in readiness upon all events. Ibid. (1685), II. 250. In all events … the Church of England … is the most primitive, apostolical, and excellent.
[1703. Ld. Holt, in Raymond, Rep., 909. He is bound to answer for the goods at all events but acts of God and the king’s enemies.]
1761–2. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), IV. li. 42. Civil war … must in all events, prove calamitous to the nation.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. ii. 73. Dupleix sent repeated orders that it [the reinforcement] might be intercepted at all events.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. x. 603. Berkstead was a pedlar, or at all events a hawker of small wares.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 35. Not this at all events, which is the opposite of truth.
