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struction hard to overcome; a pinch. Every rub is smoothed on our way. Shak. To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub. Shak. Upon this rub, the English ambassadors thought fit to demur. Hayward. One knows not, certainly, what other rubs might have been ordained for us by a wise Providence. W. Besant.…

ut any known authority for its truth; -- in this sense often personified. Rumor next, and Chance, And Tumult, and Confusion, all embroiled. Milton.

r or incur, as a danger or risk; as, to run the risk of losing one's life. See To run the chance, below. "He runneth two dangers." Bacon.

-- Sacrifice hit (Baseball), in batting, a hit of such a kind that the batter loses his chance of tallying, but enables one or more who are on bases to get home or gain a base.

bell, a small bell usually suspended in a bell cot at the apex of the nave roof, over the chancel arch, in mediæval churches, but a hand bell is now often used; -- so called because rung at the singing of the sanctus, at the conclusion of the ordinary of the Mass, and again at the elevation of the host. Called also Mas…

An escape. [Obs.] I spake of most disastrous chances, . . . Of hairbreadth scapes in the imminent, deadly breach. Shak.

To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game. [Cant, U.S.]

Freedom from risk; safety. Give up yourself merely to chance and hazard, From firm security. Shak. Some . . . alleged that we should have no security for our trade. Swift.

Seats in the chancel of a church near the altar for the officiating clergy during intervals of service. Hook.

lf of contempt; in international law, to confiscate. Formerly the goods of a defendant in chancery were, in the last resort, sequestered and detained to enforce the decrees of the court. And now the profits of a benefice are sequestered to pay the debts of ecclesiastics. Blackstone.

Parliament (one for each house) to execute their commands, and another attends the Court Chancery. The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought. Chaucer. The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those men go. Acts xvi. 35. This fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest. Shak.

A suffix denoting state, office, dignity, profession, or art; as in lordship, friendship, chancellorship, stewardship, horsemanship.

Formerly, a writ issuing out of chancery, upon certificate given by the ordinary, of a man's standing excommunicate by the space of forty days, for the laying him up in prison till he submit himself to the authority of the church. Crabb.

In games of chance and skill: To defeat (an opponent) (as in cards) so that he fails to gain a point, or (in checkers) to get a king. [Colloq.

Being in a state of suppressed activity; quiet but not dead. Some evil chance Will make the smoldering scandal break and blaze. Tennyson.

ether burning or not. If the burning snuff happens to get out of the snuffers, you have a chance that it may fall into a dish of soup. Swift.

ish practice, the professional designation of a person admitted to practice in a court of chancery or equity. See the Note under Attorney.

Chance; lot; destiny. [Obs.] By aventure, or sort, or cas [chance]. Chaucer. Let blockish Ajax draw The sort to fight with Hector. Shak.

Any business venture in involving unusual risks, with a chance for large profits.

Formerly the title of the sealer of writs in chancery. Mozley & W.