chance (2 is now archaic, 5 is obsolete)
1.
fortuitous
circumstance, accident
Wint. II. iii. 182
“Where chance may nurse
or end it,”
Troil. III. iii. 131,
Cor. IV. iv. 20, Lucr. 1596; so “by chance”
LLL. V. ii. 219, Ham. IV. vii. 161.
2.
something that
happens, event, occurrence; esp. unfortunate event,
mishap
2H4 IV. ii. 81
“ill chances,”
Rom. V. iii. 146, Mac. II. iii. 98,
Ham. V. ii. 348
“You that look pale and
tremble at this chance.”
3.
opportunity,
possibility of good or bad fortune
Mer.V. II. i. 43
“bring me unto my
chance,”
Cym. V. iv. 132
“I, That have this
golden chance”
; so “take”
(one's) “chance”
John I. i. 151; “main chance,” chief or
paramount issue
2H4 III. i. 83
“a man may prophesy . .
. of the main chance of things.”
4.
fortune, good or ill
Wiv. V. i. 5, Troil.
Prol. 31 “the chance of war,”
Mac. I. iii. 143
“If chance will have me
king,”
Oth. IV. i. 278.
5.
piece of (good)
fortune, a person's fortune, luck, or lot
Tw.N. III. iv. 179
“if it be thy chance to
kill me,”
1H6 V. iv. 4, Troil. IV. v. 149,
Cor. IV. vii. 40
“those chances Which he
was lord of,”
Ant. II. iii.
35.
