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A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; -- originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 185…

ving considerable part of one's capital, or not in the line of one's ordinary business; a venture. [Cant] Bartlett.

are as fond of grief as of your child. Shak. A great traveler, and fond of telling his adventures. Irving.

rly worn by professional jesters. -- Fool's errand, an unreasonable, silly, profitless adventure or undertaking. -- Fool's gold, iron or copper pyrites, resembling gold in color. -- Fool's paradise, a name applied to a limbo (see under Limbo) popularly believed to be the region of vanity and nonsense. Hence, any foo…

Something done or achieved; a deed or an action; an adventure. [Obs.] Chaucer.

duction; as, the gross sum, or gross amount, the gross weight; -- opposed to net. Gross adventure (Law) the loan of money upon bottomry, i. e., on a mortgage of a ship. -- Gross average (Law), that kind of average which falls upon the gross or entire amount of ship, cargo, and freight; -- commonly called general avera…

By chance; peradventure; haply. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

successful; prosperous; satisfying desire; as, a happy expedient; a happy effort; a happy venture; a happy omen. Chymists have been more happy in finding experiments than the causes of them. Boyle.

To expose to the operation of chance; to put in danger of loss or injury; to venture; to risk. Men hazard nothing by a course of evangelical obedience. John Clarke. He hazards his neck to the halter. Fuller.

One who hazards or ventures.

iocy; foolishness. Worse than mere ignorance or idiotism. Shaftesbury. The running that adventure is the greatist idiotism. Hammond.

To intermix; to mingle. [Obs.] Many other adventures are intermeddled. Spenser.

An effort; an attempt; a venture. [Obs.] Our fortune lies Upon thisjump. Shak.

A wandering knight; a knight who traveled in search of adventures, for the purpose of exhibiting military skill, prowess, and generosity.

The character or actions of wandering knights; the practice of wandering in quest of adventures; chivalry; a quixotic or romantic adventure or scheme. The rigid guardian [i. e., conscience] of a blameless heart Is weak with rank knight-erratries o'errun. Young.

be less than, short, not quite, etc. What hour now I think it lacks of twelve. Shak. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty. Gen. xvii. 28.

or desire for, or interest in; to be pleased with; to like; as, to love books; to love adventures. Wit, eloquence, and poetry. Arts which I loved. Cowley.

; fortunate; meeting with good success or good fortune; -- said of persons; as, a lucky adventurer. " Lucky wight." Spenser.

ake believe, to pretend; to feign; to simulate. -- To make bold, to take the liberty; to venture. -- To make the cards (Card Playing), to shuffle the pack. -- To make choice of, to take by way of preference; to choose. -- To make danger, to make experiment. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl. -- To make default (Law), to fail to a…

yden. May be, and It may be, are used as equivalent to possibly, perhaps, by chance, peradventure. See 1st Maybe.