Dictionary

chance-medley en · NOUN

Etymology

From Old French chance medlée, literally "mingled chance", with postpositive adjective (often confused because of the fact that medley is also a noun).

Meanings

1. (countable, historical, uncountable) The killing of another in self-defence upon a sudden and unpremeditated encounter.
   • Manſlaughter, otherwiſe called Chancemedley, is when two do fight together upon the ſudden, and by meer Chance, without any Malice precedent, and one of them doth kill the other; this alſo is Felony of Death. 1618, Michael Dalton, chapter CXLVI, in The Country Justice, Savoy: Henry Lintot, published 1746, page 333:
2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) Luck; chance; accident.
   • This is true in the general right of marriage, but not in the chance-medley of every particular match. 1645, John Milton, Tetrachordon:
   • Though much depends on what thy choice shall be, / Is all chance-medley, and unknown to me. 1784, William Cowper, Tirocinium; Or, A Review of Schools:

Forms

Synonyms

hap · fortune (luck) · manslaughter (killing) · manslaught (killing)