perchanceadv.n.adj.

Brit.

/pəˈtʃɑːns/,

/pəˈtʃans/, U.S.

/pərˈtʃæns/

Forms: Middle English perchanch, Middle English perchaunche, Middle English perchauns, Middle English perchaunse, Middle English perschaunce, Middle English perschauns, Middle English–1500s parchance, Middle English–1500s parchaunce, Middle English–1600s perchaunce, Middle English– perchance, 1500s perchanse; Scottish pre-1700 parchance, pre-1700 perchans, pre-1700 perchanse, pre-1700 perchaunce, pre-1700 perchauns, pre-1700 perchawns, pre-1700 perschance, pre-1700 pershance, pre-1700 purchans, pre-1700 1700s– perchance. N.E.D. (1905) also records a form Middle English perchawnce.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French par cheaunce.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman par cheaunce (c1300 or earlier; also as par cheanse (14th cent. or earlier)) < par by, for (see per prep.) + cheaunce chance n. Compare peradventure adv., peradventure n., percase adv., and per-hazard at per prep. 3f.Also occasionally written as two words or with hyphen.

A. adv.

a. Modifying a complete statement so as to express a hypothetical, contingent, or uncertain possibility: maybe, perhaps, possibly. Cf. peradventure adv. 1a, percase adv. 2a, perhaps adv. 1a.In sense A. 1a(a) the statement is already contingent, and perchance may be taken, as in A. 2 and A. 3, in its literal sense of ‘by chance’, ‘there may, might, would by chance be’; but in A. 1a(b) the statement is made contingent by perchance, and we cannot there substitute ‘by chance’, the meaning being ‘it may chance to be the fact that there is, was, or has been’. This is also true of A. 1a(b), but there, the event itself being future and so subject to contingency, the use of ‘perchance’ is somewhat transitional between A. 1a(a) and A. 1a(b). The loss of the subjunctive inflections in English, and the levelling of this mood in form under the indicative, makes some early examples, esp. of the past tense, doubtful between A. 1a(a) and A. 1a(b); thus ‘perchance they had’ might mean ‘perchance they might have’; and it may have been in this way that a phrase originally equivalent to Latin forte has come to be used as equivalent to forsitan. Compare also the development in ‘it may be that he is here’, ‘may be he is here’, and (British regional) ‘he is maybe here’.

(a) Used as an intensifier of the subjunctive or its equivalent.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adverb] > perhaps

is wenc897

wen isc897

peradventurec1300

peradventurec1325

perchancec1350

uphapa1375

percasea1393

lightly1395

in casea1398

maybea1400

may chancea1400

may-falla1400

may-fortunea1400

may-tidea1400

perhapa1464

happen1487

perhapsc1520

percase1523

ablea1525

by chance1526

mayhap1533

fortunea1535

belikelya1551

haps1570

mayhappen1577

perhappen1578

possibly1600

not impossibly1667

ables1673

aunters1673

aiblins1720

p'rapsa1745

aunterens1825

mebbe1825

yes-no1898

yimkin1925

ja-nee1937

c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) liv. 13 (MED) And ȝif he, þat hated me, had spoken gret þynges vp me, par-chaunce ich had hid me fram hym.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 2225 (MED) It mai par chance faile.

a1450 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 246 (MED) This day heyl; te morwe, perchaunce, We mown be ded and ley in clay.

c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xx. 145 The sophist logicinaris per chance may argou that tua contrareis can nocht be baytht false.

?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Biiii Perchaunce an issue hereon may be ioynt.

1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse To Rdr. sig. A3^v Hee may perchaunce swallow downe the sharp hook of reproach and infamie.

a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Suff. 54 Some perchance would assign another reason.

1721 E. Young Revenge ii. i. 21 Something perchance may happen To soften all to friendship, and to love.

1750 M. Jones Misc. in Prose & Verse 16 This too, perchance, may serve to reconcile The virgin's panicks, and the stoic's smile.

1835 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (1837) I. xxi. 320 They thought death perchance might be a change for the better.

1885 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. I. xxiii. 235 Sit thee down and eat with us; so perchance Allah may unite us with him we long for.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 334 Yet he was young and perchance he might learn to love her in time.

1990 G. Robertson Media Law (BNC) 84 The precocious fourteen-year-old schoolgirl into whose hands it might perchance fall.

(b) Used with a statement in the future indicative, rendering it an uncertain possibility.

ΚΠ

a1425 (?a1350) Gospel of Nicodemus (BL Add. 32578) (1907) 377 His blude mot on vs fall..sir pilat said, parchance [v.r. perchaunche] so sall.

?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 139 Godd..will perchaunce take wreke on þam.

1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1696 As efterward, perchance, rehears I sall.

1542 H. Brinkelow Lamentacion sig. Bi Perchaunce ye wyll saye, ye seke no soche thyng thereby.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. ii. 17 Perchance he will not minde me.

1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine i. ii. 5 Some perchance will place their scorn, where they ought to plant their wonder.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xviii. 244 Panic-seized, perchance The Trojans shall from fight desist.

a1822 P. B. Shelley tr. P. Calderon Scenes from Magico Prodigioso in Posthumous Poems (1824) 381 Many still Are mine, and many more, perchance shall be.

1849 H. D. Thoreau Week Concord & Merrimack Rivers 265 Poets perchance will feign that gods sent down the material from heaven.

1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor iii. ii. 519 Why then perchance I'll come upon you sack a sack as did Catullus on the lovers.

1990 P. Wiat Child Bride (BNC) 71 It..has a curious history. One day perchance I shall tell you of it.

ΚΠ

a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) 3133 (MED) Sum wend..Þat it war ane angel bright, Þat God had sent þeder, perchance, On þam for to tak vengance.

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 110 (MED) The lond is good, the colour nought, perchaunce.

1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Warwick xiii Perchaunce thou thinkest.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. i. 21, 27 Fuluia perchance is angry... Perchance? Nay, and most like.

1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 163 When we are sad, and know no reason why, Perchance it is, because some there doe dye.

1740 C. Pitt tr. Virgil Æneid I. i. 36 Perchance,..He roams the Towns, or wanders thro' the Woods.

1790 A. Francis Misc. Poems 11 Be mine to snatch the present hour, The next, perchance, eludes my pow'r.

1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes 192 This shadow was perchance my missing demon.

1905 Baroness Orczy Scarlet Pimpernel xi. 114 Perhaps you know more about our national hero than we do ourselves..perchance you know who he is.

1990 P. Wiat Child Bride (BNC) 121 Perchance he desires not to receive me.

b. Modifying a word or phrase independently; = peradventure adv. 1b, percase adv. 2b, perhaps adv. 1b.

ΚΠ

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 2369 Noght al per chance as ye it wolden.

a1400 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 160 Er he a childe put hir with-Inne & perchaunce two at ones.

1522 J. Skelton Why come ye nat to Courte 634 Parchaunce halfe a yere, And yet neuer the nere.

1599 W. Malim tr. in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. i. 117 Men being first inforced to write their actes..in barkes of trees, or otherwise perchance as vnreadily.

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 67 To die to sleepe, To sleepe, perchance to dreame, I there's the rub.

1683 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 55 The Laboratory, perchance one of the most beautiful and useful in the world.

1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. 310 Twenty Episcopals perchance to one Kirker of the Calvinistical Order.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. x. 180 Hoping to espie Some works of man, or hear, perchance, a voice.

1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion iv. 193 Unseen, perchance above the power of sight.

1896 C. G. D. Roberts Forge in Forest iii. 41 Beyond the point, perchance a furlong, was a narrow sand-spit covered deep at every flood tide.

1931 J. S. Gardiner Coral Reefs & Atolls 7 Corals are broken off to be swept perchance on to an island shore behind.

1994 Diabetes Forecast May 41/2 It's best not to test your blood glucose in the hot sun... Settle, instead, under a shady tree to test, and perchance to read.

2. In a statement of fact: by chance; as it happens or happened; = peradventure adv. 2, percase adv. 1. Now rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adverb]

feringc1000

feringlya1300

by casec1300

chancefully1303

lotc1325

peradventurec1325

of chance1330

happilya1375

in hapa1375

upon hapsa1375

casuallyc1384

perchancec1387

chancely1389

by fortune1390

haplyc1390

by (also of) adventurea1393

percasea1393

adventurelyc1400

percase1402

accidently?a1425

adventurously1440

by (good, lucky, etc.) hap?a1450

accidentally1528

chanceably1559

bechance1569

chance1595

casual-wise1601

accidental1622

occasionally1622

fortuitouslya1652

contingently1668

by chance1669

chanceable1709

per-hazard1788

chance-wise1844

c1387–95 G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. 475 In felawshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe; Of remedies of loue she knew par chaunce [v.r. per schaunce], For she koude of that art the olde daunce.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. 2368 It fell per chance upon a day A Rovere of the See was nome.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 2489 (MED) Our gude dedys er ofte done wrang..Or parchaunce done oute of charite.

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 229 I said, ‘Is this ȝour gouirnance, To tak men for thair luking heir?’ Fresche Bewty said, ‘Ȝa, schir, perchance Ȝe be my ladeis presoneir.’

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. ii. 4 Vio... Perchance he is not drown'd: What thinke you saylors? Cap. It is perchance that you your selfe were saued.

1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 165 Descending astounded, asylum to seek, She pops, as perchance, upon kind Mistress Meeke.

1991 Hansard Commons 4 Dec. 374 Perchance I was speaking by telephone this afternoon to a building contractor who specialises in this type of work.

2003 Independent (Nexis) 10 July Quite per chance, while I was passing by the TV set in my house the other day, I overheard an Arab voice.

3. In a subordinate clause expressing condition or purpose (with if, lest, etc.): by any chance; as may be, as may happen, as is possible; = peradventure adv. 3, percase adv. 3, perhaps adv. 2.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adverb] > by any chance

peradventurec1325

percase1402

perchancea1425

perhapsc1520

anauntrins1676

by any chance1914

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 5039 If with child they be, perchaunce.

?1503 Bevis of Hampton (Chetham) 2389 Parchaunce, if we wyth hym fyght, we shal hym sle wyth goddys myght!

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xiv. 105 But perchance if ye would seeme yet more curious, in place of these foure Trocheus ye might induce other feete of three times.

1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice v. i. 75 If they but heare perchance a trumpet sound.

1676 M. Lister in J. Ray Corr. (1848) 125 If perchance anything has escaped his diligence.

1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 75 Light fly his Slumbers, if perchance a Flight Of angry Gad-Flies fasten on the Herd.

1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. xxi. 458 Should ye hear perchance a groan.

1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. xiii. 330 She was stript of all her ornaments, lest perchance there should be among them some of those amulets which Satan was supposed to bestow upon his victims.

1870 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Iliad I. iii. 102 Lest perchance He smite thee with his spear.

1904 J. Conrad Nostromo i. i. 4 Unless perchance a sombre thunder-head breaks away from the main body to career all over the gulf.

1992 Buzzworm Nov. 63/2 If the bag should perchance fly overboard, it floats.

B. n.

1. A chance, a possibility. Usually in by perchance: by chance. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > chance [phrase] > by chance

by perchance1495

at a venture1517

per accidens1528

at hazard (also hazards)a1533

at random1543

by occasion1562

at range1568

by the way1572

by (also at) (a) peradventurea1586

hit or miss1609

at the by1611

hob-nob1660

hit and miss1897

1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum (de Worde) xvii. clxxv Also a rodde shal stretche vpryght of itself but whan it is yonge and tendre that by perchaunce it happyth that it crokyth and bendeth.

1848 G. Lippard Paul Ardenheim ii. xxvi. 406 ‘I'll risk the Perchance!’ said Jacopo, as he felt for the mysterious letter.

1999 Belfast News Let. (Nexis) 6 Sept. 13 By perchance, by talent, or because..Mulholland chooses his prize-giving curators to match his own tastes, the majority of those artists..have local roots.

2. A use of the word ‘perchance’, or a statement qualified by the word; an expression of uncertain possibility.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [noun] > expression of possibility

perchance?1570

perhapsa1680

may1897

?1570 T. Ingelend Disobedient Child sig. Bii I praye ye without any perchaunce, Shall not my request turne to your greuaunce.

1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. II. iii. ii. sig. Cc.i^v/1 They with their..innumerable Perchaunces and Put cases do make the treatise of restitution so tedious.

a1677 I. Barrow Wks. (1683) II. 232 Interposing..now and then his may-be's and perchances.

1854 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Feb. 196 Carefully cut off the point, strip it of individuality, lard it with ‘prithees’, ‘mayhaps’ and ‘perchances’.

a1886 S. Ferguson Lays of Red Branch (1897) 67 For him To whom the Gods are possibilities, May-be's, perchances, I've no trust in him.

1999 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 3 Sept. 13 Perhaps, and history is full of what-ifs and perchances, it was the most important event of the century.

C. adj.

Dependent on chance. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adjective] > random or haphazard

uncertain1303

casualc1460

haphazard1576

roving1577

hazardous1585

chanceful1594

firmless1605

random1655

temerarious1660

aleatory1693

contingent1703

unlawed1789

by the way1846

chancy1860

fluky1880

hitty-missy1885

perchance1891

happenchance1905

happenstance1905

willy-nilly1933

1891 J. Smith Fellowship iii. 40 There is no intention to show that the life in Christ is perchance, haphazard, something which may begin today and end tomorrow.

1997 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Free Press (Nexis) 18 May j9 ‘Of Course I'm Alright,’ a song that portrays a perchance meeting of a former love.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	perchance
释义	perchanceadv.n.adj. Brit. /pəˈtʃɑːns/, /pəˈtʃans/, U.S. /pərˈtʃæns/ Forms: Middle English perchanch, Middle English perchaunche, Middle English perchauns, Middle English perchaunse, Middle English perschaunce, Middle English perschauns, Middle English–1500s parchance, Middle English–1500s parchaunce, Middle English–1600s perchaunce, Middle English– perchance, 1500s perchanse; Scottish pre-1700 parchance, pre-1700 perchans, pre-1700 perchanse, pre-1700 perchaunce, pre-1700 perchauns, pre-1700 perchawns, pre-1700 perschance, pre-1700 pershance, pre-1700 purchans, pre-1700 1700s– perchance. N.E.D. (1905) also records a form Middle English perchawnce. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French par cheaunce. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman par cheaunce (c1300 or earlier; also as par cheanse (14th cent. or earlier)) < par by, for (see per prep.) + cheaunce chance n. Compare peradventure adv., peradventure n., percase adv., and per-hazard at per prep. 3f.Also occasionally written as two words or with hyphen. A. adv. 1. a. Modifying a complete statement so as to express a hypothetical, contingent, or uncertain possibility: maybe, perhaps, possibly. Cf. peradventure adv. 1a, percase adv. 2a, perhaps adv. 1a.In sense A. 1a(a) the statement is already contingent, and perchance may be taken, as in A. 2 and A. 3, in its literal sense of ‘by chance’, ‘there may, might, would by chance be’; but in A. 1a(b) the statement is made contingent by perchance, and we cannot there substitute ‘by chance’, the meaning being ‘it may chance to be the fact that there is, was, or has been’. This is also true of A. 1a(b), but there, the event itself being future and so subject to contingency, the use of ‘perchance’ is somewhat transitional between A. 1a(a) and A. 1a(b). The loss of the subjunctive inflections in English, and the levelling of this mood in form under the indicative, makes some early examples, esp. of the past tense, doubtful between A. 1a(a) and A. 1a(b); thus ‘perchance they had’ might mean ‘perchance they might have’; and it may have been in this way that a phrase originally equivalent to Latin forte has come to be used as equivalent to forsitan. Compare also the development in ‘it may be that he is here’, ‘may be he is here’, and (British regional) ‘he is maybe here’. (a) Used as an intensifier of the subjunctive or its equivalent. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adverb] > perhaps is wenc897 wen isc897 peradventurec1300 peradventurec1325 perchancec1350 uphapa1375 percasea1393 lightly1395 in casea1398 maybea1400 may chancea1400 may-falla1400 may-fortunea1400 may-tidea1400 perhapa1464 happen1487 perhapsc1520 percase1523 ablea1525 by chance1526 mayhap1533 fortunea1535 belikelya1551 haps1570 mayhappen1577 perhappen1578 possibly1600 not impossibly1667 ables1673 aunters1673 aiblins1720 p'rapsa1745 aunterens1825 mebbe1825 yes-no1898 yimkin1925 ja-nee1937 c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) liv. 13 (MED) And ȝif he, þat hated me, had spoken gret þynges vp me, par-chaunce ich had hid me fram hym. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. 2225 (MED) It mai par chance faile. a1450 in R. L. Greene Early Eng. Carols (1935) 246 (MED) This day heyl; te morwe, perchaunce, We mown be ded and ley in clay. c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xx. 145 The sophist logicinaris per chance may argou that tua contrareis can nocht be baytht false. ?1577 F. T. Debate Pride & Lowlines sig. Biiii Perchaunce an issue hereon may be ioynt. 1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse To Rdr. sig. A3^v Hee may perchaunce swallow downe the sharp hook of reproach and infamie. a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Suff. 54 Some perchance would assign another reason. 1721 E. Young Revenge ii. i. 21 Something perchance may happen To soften all to friendship, and to love. 1750 M. Jones Misc. in Prose & Verse 16 This too, perchance, may serve to reconcile The virgin's panicks, and the stoic's smile. 1835 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (1837) I. xxi. 320 They thought death perchance might be a change for the better. 1885 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. I. xxiii. 235 Sit thee down and eat with us; so perchance Allah may unite us with him we long for. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 334 Yet he was young and perchance he might learn to love her in time. 1990 G. Robertson Media Law (BNC) 84 The precocious fourteen-year-old schoolgirl into whose hands it might perchance fall. (b) Used with a statement in the future indicative, rendering it an uncertain possibility. ΚΠ a1425 (?a1350) Gospel of Nicodemus (BL Add. 32578) (1907) 377 His blude mot on vs fall..sir pilat said, parchance [v.r. perchaunche] so sall. ?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 139 Godd..will perchaunce take wreke on þam. 1535 D. Lindsay Satyre 1696 As efterward, perchance, rehears I sall. 1542 H. Brinkelow Lamentacion sig. Bi Perchaunce ye wyll saye, ye seke no soche thyng thereby. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) ii. ii. 17 Perchance he will not minde me. View more context for this quotation 1650 T. Fuller Pisgah-sight of Palestine i. ii. 5 Some perchance will place their scorn, where they ought to plant their wonder. 1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. xviii. 244 Panic-seized, perchance The Trojans shall from fight desist. a1822 P. B. Shelley tr. P. Calderon Scenes from Magico Prodigioso in Posthumous Poems (1824) 381 Many still Are mine, and many more, perchance shall be. 1849 H. D. Thoreau Week Concord & Merrimack Rivers 265 Poets perchance will feign that gods sent down the material from heaven. 1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor iii. ii. 519 Why then perchance I'll come upon you sack a sack as did Catullus on the lovers. 1990 P. Wiat Child Bride (BNC) 71 It..has a curious history. One day perchance I shall tell you of it. (c) Used with a statement in the past or present indicative, rendering it hypothetical. ΚΠ a1425 (?a1350) Seven Sages (Galba) (1907) 3133 (MED) Sum wend..Þat it war ane angel bright, Þat God had sent þeder, perchance, On þam for to tak vengance. tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 110 (MED) The lond is good, the colour nought, perchaunce. 1559 W. Baldwin et al. Myrroure for Magistrates Warwick xiii Perchaunce thou thinkest. a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. i. 21, 27 Fuluia perchance is angry... Perchance? Nay, and most like. 1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 163 When we are sad, and know no reason why, Perchance it is, because some there doe dye. 1740 C. Pitt tr. Virgil Æneid I. i. 36 Perchance,..He roams the Towns, or wanders thro' the Woods. 1790 A. Francis Misc. Poems 11 Be mine to snatch the present hour, The next, perchance, eludes my pow'r. 1858 G. MacDonald Phantastes 192 This shadow was perchance my missing demon. 1905 Baroness Orczy Scarlet Pimpernel xi. 114 Perhaps you know more about our national hero than we do ourselves..perchance you know who he is. 1990 P. Wiat Child Bride (BNC) 121 Perchance he desires not to receive me. b. Modifying a word or phrase independently; = peradventure adv. 1b, percase adv. 2b, perhaps adv. 1b. ΚΠ a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) viii. 2369 Noght al per chance as ye it wolden. a1400 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 160 Er he a childe put hir with-Inne & perchaunce two at ones. 1522 J. Skelton Why come ye nat to Courte 634 Parchaunce halfe a yere, And yet neuer the nere. 1599 W. Malim tr. in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations (new ed.) II. i. 117 Men being first inforced to write their actes..in barkes of trees, or otherwise perchance as vnreadily. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 67 To die to sleepe, To sleepe, perchance to dreame, I there's the rub. View more context for this quotation 1683 A. Wood Life & Times (1894) III. 55 The Laboratory, perchance one of the most beautiful and useful in the world. 1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. 310 Twenty Episcopals perchance to one Kirker of the Calvinistical Order. 1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. x. 180 Hoping to espie Some works of man, or hear, perchance, a voice. 1814 W. Wordsworth Excursion iv. 193 Unseen, perchance above the power of sight. View more context for this quotation 1896 C. G. D. Roberts Forge in Forest iii. 41 Beyond the point, perchance a furlong, was a narrow sand-spit covered deep at every flood tide. 1931 J. S. Gardiner Coral Reefs & Atolls 7 Corals are broken off to be swept perchance on to an island shore behind. 1994 Diabetes Forecast May 41/2 It's best not to test your blood glucose in the hot sun... Settle, instead, under a shady tree to test, and perchance to read. 2. In a statement of fact: by chance; as it happens or happened; = peradventure adv. 2, percase adv. 1. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adverb] feringc1000 feringlya1300 by casec1300 chancefully1303 lotc1325 peradventurec1325 of chance1330 happilya1375 in hapa1375 upon hapsa1375 casuallyc1384 perchancec1387 chancely1389 by fortune1390 haplyc1390 by (also of) adventurea1393 percasea1393 adventurelyc1400 percase1402 accidently?a1425 adventurously1440 by (good, lucky, etc.) hap?a1450 accidentally1528 chanceably1559 bechance1569 chance1595 casual-wise1601 accidental1622 occasionally1622 fortuitouslya1652 contingently1668 by chance1669 chanceable1709 per-hazard1788 chance-wise1844 c1387–95 G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. 475 In felawshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe; Of remedies of loue she knew par chaunce [v.r. per schaunce], For she koude of that art the olde daunce. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iii. 2368 It fell per chance upon a day A Rovere of the See was nome. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 2489 (MED) Our gude dedys er ofte done wrang..Or parchaunce done oute of charite. a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 229 I said, ‘Is this ȝour gouirnance, To tak men for thair luking heir?’ Fresche Bewty said, ‘Ȝa, schir, perchance Ȝe be my ladeis presoneir.’ a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. ii. 4 Vio... Perchance he is not drown'd: What thinke you saylors? Cap. It is perchance that you your selfe were saued. View more context for this quotation 1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 165 Descending astounded, asylum to seek, She pops, as perchance, upon kind Mistress Meeke. 1991 Hansard Commons 4 Dec. 374 Perchance I was speaking by telephone this afternoon to a building contractor who specialises in this type of work. 2003 Independent (Nexis) 10 July Quite per chance, while I was passing by the TV set in my house the other day, I overheard an Arab voice. 3. In a subordinate clause expressing condition or purpose (with if, lest, etc.): by any chance; as may be, as may happen, as is possible; = peradventure adv. 3, percase adv. 3, perhaps adv. 2. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [adverb] > by any chance peradventurec1325 percase1402 perchancea1425 perhapsc1520 anauntrins1676 by any chance1914 a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 5039 If with child they be, perchaunce. ?1503 Bevis of Hampton (Chetham) 2389 Parchaunce, if we wyth hym fyght, we shal hym sle wyth goddys myght! 1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie ii. xiv. 105 But perchance if ye would seeme yet more curious, in place of these foure Trocheus ye might induce other feete of three times. 1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice v. i. 75 If they but heare perchance a trumpet sound. View more context for this quotation 1676 M. Lister in J. Ray Corr. (1848) 125 If perchance anything has escaped his diligence. 1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 75 Light fly his Slumbers, if perchance a Flight Of angry Gad-Flies fasten on the Herd. 1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey in Iliad & Odyssey II. xxi. 458 Should ye hear perchance a groan. 1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe III. xiii. 330 She was stript of all her ornaments, lest perchance there should be among them some of those amulets which Satan was supposed to bestow upon his victims. 1870 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Iliad I. iii. 102 Lest perchance He smite thee with his spear. 1904 J. Conrad Nostromo i. i. 4 Unless perchance a sombre thunder-head breaks away from the main body to career all over the gulf. 1992 Buzzworm Nov. 63/2 If the bag should perchance fly overboard, it floats. B. n. 1. A chance, a possibility. Usually in by perchance: by chance. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > chance [phrase] > by chance by perchance1495 at a venture1517 per accidens1528 at hazard (also hazards)a1533 at random1543 by occasion1562 at range1568 by the way1572 by (also at) (a) peradventurea1586 hit or miss1609 at the by1611 hob-nob1660 hit and miss1897 1495 Trevisa's Bartholomeus De Proprietatibus Rerum (de Worde) xvii. clxxv Also a rodde shal stretche vpryght of itself but whan it is yonge and tendre that by perchaunce it happyth that it crokyth and bendeth. 1848 G. Lippard Paul Ardenheim ii. xxvi. 406 ‘I'll risk the Perchance!’ said Jacopo, as he felt for the mysterious letter. 1999 Belfast News Let. (Nexis) 6 Sept. 13 By perchance, by talent, or because..Mulholland chooses his prize-giving curators to match his own tastes, the majority of those artists..have local roots. 2. A use of the word ‘perchance’, or a statement qualified by the word; an expression of uncertain possibility. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > possibility > [noun] > expression of possibility perchance?1570 perhapsa1680 may1897 ?1570 T. Ingelend Disobedient Child sig. Bii I praye ye without any perchaunce, Shall not my request turne to your greuaunce. 1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. II. iii. ii. sig. Cc.i^v/1 They with their..innumerable Perchaunces and Put cases do make the treatise of restitution so tedious. a1677 I. Barrow Wks. (1683) II. 232 Interposing..now and then his may-be's and perchances. 1854 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Feb. 196 Carefully cut off the point, strip it of individuality, lard it with ‘prithees’, ‘mayhaps’ and ‘perchances’. a1886 S. Ferguson Lays of Red Branch (1897) 67 For him To whom the Gods are possibilities, May-be's, perchances, I've no trust in him. 1999 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 3 Sept. 13 Perhaps, and history is full of what-ifs and perchances, it was the most important event of the century. C. adj. Dependent on chance. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > chance or causelessness > [adjective] > random or haphazard uncertain1303 casualc1460 haphazard1576 roving1577 hazardous1585 chanceful1594 firmless1605 random1655 temerarious1660 aleatory1693 contingent1703 unlawed1789 by the way1846 chancy1860 fluky1880 hitty-missy1885 perchance1891 happenchance1905 happenstance1905 willy-nilly1933 1891 J. Smith Fellowship iii. 40 There is no intention to show that the life in Christ is perchance, haphazard, something which may begin today and end tomorrow. 1997 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Free Press (Nexis) 18 May j9 ‘Of Course I'm Alright,’ a song that portrays a perchance meeting of a former love. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2005; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < adv.n.adj.c1350
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