Search the Dictionary

To meet one's eye; to be found or met with; to present itself; to offer; to appear; to happen; to take place; as, I will write if opportunity occurs. In Scripture, though the word heir occur, yet there is no such thing as "heir" in our author's sense. Locke.

A coming or happening; as, the occurence of a railway collision. Voyages detain the mind by the perpetual occurrence and expectation of something new. I. Watts.

Occurring or happening; hence, incidental; accidental.

Happening every eighth year; also, lasting a period of eight years. Johnson. -- Oc*ten"ni*al*ly, adv.

during the night; as, the candle will not last overnight. I had been telling her all that happened overnight. Dickens.

ticulars. See under Bill. -- In particular, specially; peculiarly. "This, in particular, happens to the lungs." Blackmore. -- To go into particulars, to relate or describe in detail or minutely.

eing or under notice; to come and go in consciousness; hence, to take place; to occur; to happen; to come; to occur progressively or in succession; to be present transitorly. So death passed upon all men. Rom. v. 12. Our own consciousness of what passes within our own mind. I. Watts.

Happening, by revolution, at a stated time; returning regularly, after a certain period of time; acting, happening, or appearing, at fixed intervals; recurring; as, periodical epidemics. The periodic return of a plant's flowering. Henslow. To influence opinion through the periodical press. Courthope.…

The quality or state of being possible; the power of happening, being, or existing. "All possibility of error." Hooker. "Latent possibilities of excellence." Johnson.

Capable of existing or occurring, or of being conceived or thought of; able to happen; capable of being done; not contrary to the nature of things; -- sometimes used to express extreme improbability; barely able to be, or to come to pass; as, possibly he is honest, as it is possible that Judas meant no wrong. With God…

Being or happening after the flood in Noah's days.

Being or happening after marriage; as, a postnuptial settlement on a wife. Kent.

Happening, or done, after dinner; after-dinner; as, postprandial speeches.

To urge or press on with eager haste or violence; to cause to happen, or come to a crisis, suddenly or too soon; as, precipitate a journey, or a conflict. Back to his sight precipitates her steps. Glover. If they be daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. Bacon.

Happening, arriving, existing, or performed before the proper or usual time; adopted too soon; too early; untimely; as, a premature fall of snow; a premature birth; a premature opinion; premature decay.

Being or happening before birth.

nt impression or conviction of something unpleasant, distressing, or calamitous, about to happen; anticipation of evil; foreboding.

Going before in time; being or happening before something else; antecedent; prior; as, previous arrangements; a previous illness. The dull sound . . . previous to the storm, Rolls o'er the muttering earth. Thomson. Previous question. (Parliamentary Practice) See under Question, and compare Closure. -- Previous to, bef…

The dating of an event before the time it happened; an antedating; -- opposed to Ant: metachronism.

To cause to be or to happen; to originate, as an effect or result; to bring about; as, disease produces pain; vice produces misery.