chance-medley
Americannoun
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a killing occurring during a sudden and unpredicted encounter.
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aimless and random action.
noun
Etymology
Origin of chance-medley
First recorded in 1485–95, chance-medley is from Anglo-French chance medlee
Vocabulary lists containing chance-medley
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The end comes to both actions at once in the squalor of a chance-medley.
From William Shakespeare by Masefield, John
One is that Marryat had the true quality of the craftsman, as distinguished from the amateur or the chance-medley man who has a lucky inspiration.
From The English Novel by Saintsbury, George
Sleep the sleep of the just, and, what is better in this chance-medley world, of the happy.
From His Sombre Rivals by Roe, Edward Payson
But in his heart he thought, My unlucky protegee has with this luckless answer shot dead, by a kind of chance-medley, her only hope of success.
From The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2 by Scott, Walter, Sir
Indeed, I am inclined to think the old man bore some peevish recollection of having been handled rather roughly by the gipsy, in the chance-medley affair of May-day.
From Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists by Irving, Washington
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
