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Force; violence. [Obs.] For courageously the two kings newly fought with great random and force. E. Hall.

In a random manner.

Floating at random; in a drifting condition; at the mercy of wind and waves. Also fig. So on the sea shall be set adrift. Dryden. Were from their daily labor turned adrift. Wordsworth.

One taken at random rather than by selection; anybody.

From one part to another of; at random through; about; on another side of; as, to travel around the country; a house standing around the corner. [Colloq. U. S.]

of shelter; protection; refuge. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.] [Also written bield and beeld.] The random beild o' clod or stane. Burns.

A kind of divination anciently practiced by means of marked arrows drawn at random from a bag or quiver, the marks on the arrows drawn being supposed to foreshow the future. Encyc. Brit.

o arrive at by conjecture; to infer on slight evidence; to surmise; to guess; to form, at random, opinions concerning. Human reason can then, at the best, but conjecture what will be. South.

cation; combination. The consolidation of the marble and of the stone did not fall out at random. Woodward. The consolidation of the great European monarchies. Hallam.

Anything driven at random. "Some log . . . a useless drift." Dryden.

A mass of large stones thrown into water at random to form bases of piers, breakwaters, etc.

n of words; to deduce words from their simple roots. How perilous it is to etymologize at random. Trench.

ovident care; prudence; wise forethought. This seems an unseasonable foresight. Milton. A random expense, without plan or foresight. Burke.

r emit a flash of light; to shine; to flash. From art, from nature, from the schools, Let random influences glance, Like light in many a shivered lance, That breaks about the dappled pools. Tennyson.

To form an opinion concerning, without knowledge or means of knowledge; to judge of at random; to conjecture. First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess. Pope.

Extra hazard; chance; accident; random. We take our principles at haphazard, upon trust. Locke.

At random; hit or miss. (Obs.) Holinshed.

To extend or grow at random. Thomson.

Random. [Obs.] Spenser.

sorts, flights, rovers, and butt shafts. B. Jonson. At rovers, at casual marks; hence, at random; as, shooting at rovers. See def. 5 (a) above. Addison. Bound down on every side with many bands because it shall not run at rovers. Robynson (More's Utopia).