Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

bechance en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

  • /bɪˈt͡ʃæns/
  • /bɪˈt͡ʃɑːns/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Old English be- Middle English bi- English be- English chance English bechance From be- + chance.

Meanings

  1. (intransitive) To happen; chance.
  2. (archaic, transitive) To happen (to); befall to.
    • Disturb his hours of rest with restless trances, / Afflict him in his bed with bedrid groans; / Let there bechance him pitiful mischances, / To make him moan; but pity not his moans: / Stone him with harden'd hearts, harder than stones 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
bechanced Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
bechanced Tense=Past lexicographic
bechances Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
bechancing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Synonyms

come to pass (to happen) · occur · transpire

bechance en · ADV · etymology 2

Pronunciation

  • /bɪˈt͡ʃæns/
  • /bɪˈt͡ʃɑːns/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épsder. Proto-Indo-European *h₁épider. Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi Proto-Germanic *bider. Proto-Germanic *bi- Proto-West Germanic *bi- Old English be- Middle English bi- English be- English chance English bechance From be- (“by”) + chance.

Meanings

  1. (not-comparable) Accidentally; by chance.
    • [Y]et we haue withſtood them till at the last battayle of Branxſton, where we bechaunce loſt our ſouereigne Lorde, and many noble men, but that was by treaſon of his Lord Chamberleyn, and yet I thinke we wanne the field: […] 1569, Richard Grafton, “Henry the Eyght”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume II, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 1073: