off-chancen.
/ˈɒftʃɑːns/, /ˈɒftʃans/, U.S. /ˈɔfˈtʃæns/, /ˈɑfˈtʃæns/ A remote chance, a possibility; a contingency out of the probable course. Now frequently in on the off-chance: just in case.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > improbability, unlikeliness > [noun] > remote chance
a hundred to one1647
a million to one1678
long odds1764
long shot1796
off-chance1844
long chance1854
outside chance1867
a fat chance1892
to have a Chinaman's chance1915
1844 T. C. Haliburton Attache 52/2 Down went the ponies' heads, and we were off,..along a deep-rutted narrow lane, with innumerable twistings and turnings in front of us, for a certainty, and the off-chance of a wagon and bell team blocking up the whole passage.
1856 Littell's Living Age 24 May 500/2 Down went the ponies' heads, and we were off..with innumerable twistings and turnings in front of us..and the off-chance of a wagon and bell team blocking up the whole passage.
1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for Nothing I. 109 To be sure, there is the off-chance of a settlement by a violent death.
1893 R. L. Stevenson Beach of Falesá 144 I thought there was an off-chance he might go back on the whole idea.
1916 J. Buchan Power-House v. 133 I had nothing to grip on, no clear job to tackle, only to wait on the off-chance.
1937 ‘M. Innes’ Hamlet, Revenge! iii. iii. 251 I've come in just on the off-chance—you see?
1988 A. Macrae Awful Childhoods vi. 71 Charmaine was still sighing she did not know what to do. Hang on to Stephen or Alan on the off-chance.
2000 N. DeMille Lion's Game xxxvi. 298 On the off-chance that this guy had a ticket for a slow boat to Arabia, my office notified Customs and Immigration people at all the cruise line piers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1844