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osed material or psychical agent or mode of activity other than a force, law, or purpose; fortune; fate; -- in this sense often personifed. It is strictly and philosophically true in nature and reason that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify anything really exi…

other. Look upon those thousands with whom thou wouldst not, for any interest, change thy fortune and condition. Jer. Taylor.

Anything worn for its supposed efficacy to the wearer in averting ill or securing good fortune.

Achievement; deed; performance. [Obs.] Fortune, the foe of famous chevisance. Spenser.

One who tells fortunes by examining the hand.

The art of telling fortunes by examining the hand.

The art or practice of foretelling events, or of telling the fortunes or the disposition of persons by inspecting the hand; palmistry.

A fortune teller.

ill stand by you; -- an old proverb. Tyndale. To claw away, to scold or revile. "The jade Fortune is to be clawed away for it, if you should lose it." L'Estrange. To claw (one) on the back, to tickle; to express approbation. (Obs.) Chaucer. -- To claw (one) on the gall, to find falt with; to vex. [Obs.] Chaucer.…

Secretly; darkly. [Obs.] A wondrous vision which did close imply The course of all her fortune and posterity. Spenser.

Literally, suffering with another; a sensation of sorrow excited by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration. Womanly igenuity set to work by womanly compassion. Macaulay.

contrive; to plan; to plot. He was a man of a feeble stomach, unable to concoct any great fortune. Hayward.

Fortune; fate; destiny. [Obs.] It is constellation, which causeth all that a man doeth. Gower.

To burst or open in chinks; to break, with or without quite separating into parts. By misfortune it cracked in the coling. Boyle. The mirror cracked from side to side. Tennyson.

That which confines or contracts; a restraint; a shakle; a hindrance. A narrow fortune is a cramp to a great mind. L'Estrange. Crippling his pleasures with the cramp of fear. Cowper.

A person who owes his rise and fortune to another; a servile dependent; an instrument; a tool. A creature of the queen's, Lady Anne Bullen. Shak. Both Charles himself and his creature, Laud. Macualay.

Affiction regarded as a test of patience or virtue; trial; disappointment; opposition; misfortune. Heaven prepares a good man with crosses. B. Jonson.

A fortune teller; one who pretends to reveal mysteries. [Obs.] Hudibras.

The cause of great harm, evil, or misfortune; that which brings evil or severe affliction; torment. The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance. Shak. All that I eat, or drink, or shall beget, Is propagated curse. Milton. The curse of Scotland (Card Playing), the nine of diamonds. -- Not worth a curse. See under…

mit for want of a friend to tell them of them, to the great damage both of their fame and fortune. Bacon.