chance vb. (now generally superseded by ‘happen’; the foll. are idiomatic uses, in which the word assumes the character of an adv.)
1.
“may chance” with an
infinitive=may possibly Ado II. iii.
255 [244], 2H4 II. i. 13,
Troil. I. i. 28
“you may chance burn
your lips”
(Ff “to burn”).
2.
“How chance”=How does it
come about that? Wiv. V. v.
241 [230], 2H4 IV. iv. 20, R3 IV. ii. 99,
Lr. II. iv. 64
“How the king comes
with so small a number?”
