▪ I. peradventure, adv. arch.
(pɛrədˈvɛntjʊə(r))
Forms: see below.
[ME. per-, parauenture, a. OF. phrase per or par aventure, by chance. On the one side this was syncopated to per-, paraunture, peraunter; on the other, the full form began in 15th c. to be conformed to L. spelling as peradventure, which in 16th c. superseded the earlier forms.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
(α) 3–5 per auenture, 3–6 perauenture, (4 -ere, 5–6 -ur) 4–5 par auenture, 4–6 parauenture, (4–5 -ur, -our, 5 peraventor, -tre, puraventure).
| c 1290 Beket 867 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 131 Oþur þov schalt leose þine bischopriche: and per Auenture þi lif. c 1350 Leg. Rood (1871) 65 Þan par auenture send sall he Sum of his angels to þat tre. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 648 Perauenture I be nouȝte knowe þere. 1400 in Roy. & Hist. Lett. Hen. IV (Rolls) 24, I clayme to be of kyn tyll yhow, and it peraventour nocht knawen on yhour parte. 1430 in Rymer Fœdera (1710) X. 456 Betwix whom puraventure such division shal falle. 1437 Rolls of Parlt. V. 439/1 Peraventre half ayenst half. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xiii. 72 Perauentur summe of the writingis. 14.. in Babees Bk. 356 Peraventor aftyr A ȝere or tweyne. 1549 Latimer 4th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 106 But parauenture you wyll saye What and they preache not at all? 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 b, Perauenture they wyll saye, it is the right of the churche. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 25 The pray quhilke perauentur, thay brocht far off. |
(β) 4 per aunter, 4–5 (9 dial.) peraunter, (4 -auntere, -ire, -ure; -antere, -tre, 4–5 -auntre, 4–6 -anter, 5 -awntyr); 4–5 par aunter, 4–6 paraunter, (4 -auntre, -tur, 4–5 -awntre, -ter, -antyr, 6 -anter).
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2018 Þat þou miȝt perauntre rome winne. 13.. Propr. Sanct. in Herrig Archiv LXXXI. 302/329 Not once par auntur in þe wike. a 1340 Hampole Psalter liv. 13, I had hid me perauntire fra him. 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxxii. 312 Parauntur go to dampnaciun. c 1375 Cursor M. 26136 (Fairf.) Suche man peraunture miȝt him bring in mistrouþ. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 1106 And thus peraunter stant the cas. 1426 Rolls of Parlt. V. 410/1 Thagh perauntre thei plesed hym. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 393/1 Perawntyr. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 4474 Peranter ar as gauckit fulis as I. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xi. (Arb.) 173 To say paraunter for parauenture. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Peraunter, peradventure. |
(γ) 5–7 peraduenture, 5– peradventure, (5 -our, 6 -ur; 6 paraduenture, -tter, -tuir).
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. lxxiii. 540 Peraduenture there wille be somme knyghtes ben displeased. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 50 Peraduenture I shall content your mynde. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 44 And paraduenture cal them theirs. 1563 Winȝet Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 30 Paraduentuir he hes spokin thir thingis raschelie. 1611– [see B. 3]. |
B. Signification.
† 1. In a statement of fact: By chance, by accident; as it chanced, befell, or happened. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7710 Richard is o neueu brec þere is nekke þer to, As he rod an honteþ & par auntre is hors spurnde. a 1624 Bp. M. Smith Serm. vi. (1632) 115 God wrought so vpon ones conscience that peraduenture was priuy to the designe, but had been sworne before to keep it secret. |
2. In a dependent clause expressing hypothesis or purpose (with if, unless, that, lest): By chance or accident, perchance; if peradventure, if it chance that.
| 13.. Cursor M. 28911 (Cott. Galba) If a doghty man for det, Par auenture be in presun set. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 121 He..hastily wente awey, þat þere schulde no lettynge peradventure [L. forsan] come unto hym. 14.. Hoccleve Compl. Virgin 93 Lest þat somme folk par auenture No knowleche hadde of thy persone aright. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 739 Least he peraduenture should be noted with the spot of Nigardship. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. vi. 5 He tells me, that if peraduenture He speake against me on the aduerse side, I should not thinke it strange. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. ii. ii, Unless, peradventure, their wives were comely and young. 1874 Mgr. Patterson in Ess. Relig. & Lit. Ser. iii. 132 If, then, peradventure, (or rather per impossibile,) a young candidate for ordination has passed unscathed through the pestilent State hotbeds of infidelity to which he has been statutably assigned. |
3. In a hypothetical or contingent statement; and, hence, making a statement contingent: Perchance, haply; maybe, perhaps; not improbably, belike.
Used with the subjunctive or its equivalent (peradventure he may be, would be), the future tense (peradventure he will be), and the pres. or past indicative (peradventure he is, or was there); in the last = ‘it may be the fact that{ddd}’: cf. perchance 3.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7373 Parauntre [v.rr. perauentere, par auenture] me him tolde more þan soþ were. c 1330 Assump. Virg. (B.M. MS.) 9 Par auenture ȝe haue noȝt iherde How oure ladi went out of þis werde. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 426 Paraunter [v.rr. perauntir, perauenture] she may be youre purgatorie. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. iv. 81 Parauenture said Balyn it had ben better to haue hold yow at home. 1535 Coverdale Tobit x. 2 Peraduenture Gabelus is deed, and no man wyl geue him the money. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV iii. ii. 315 Peraduenture I will with you to the Court. 1611 Bible Gen. xviii. 24 Peraduenture there be [Coverd. maye be] fifty righteous within the citie. ― 1 Kings xviii. 27 Peraduenture he sleepeth, and must be awaked. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. xiii. 63 It may peradventure be thought, there was never such a time. 1742 Fielding J. Andrews III. xii. 108 Peradventure I may be an hour later. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 868 Peradventure had he seen her first She might have made this and that other world Another world for the sick man. |
b. Qualifying a word or phrase, usually by ellipsis.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 4204 He wole þe limemele To drawe & uorsuolwe par auenture at one mele. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 239 Fortune stant in aventure, Per aunter wel, per aunter wo. 1483 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 256/1 By cause peradventour of privee and secrete Grauntes. 1575 Gamm. Gurton iv. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley III. 232 Lo, where he commeth towards, peraduenture to his paine. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 1 Hee was no babe, but a great clearke, that gaue foorth.., in passion peraduenture,..that hee had not seene any profit to come by any Synode. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week Proeme, I have chosen (paradventure not overrashly) to name mine by the Days of the Week. |
▪ II. peradˈventure, n.
[n. use of prec.
Johnson says ‘It is sometimes used as a noun, but not gracefully nor properly’. But the use is well supported.]
1. The possibility of a thing being so or not; uncertainty, doubt; a contingency; a conjecture, chance, hazard.
| [a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 56 Thus she putte condicion in her ansuere, but oure Lorde putte there inne no condicion, nor no perauenture.] 1627 Ussher Lett. (1686) 384 This general peradventure might run in St. Hierom's memory. 1636 R. Brathwait Rom. Emp. 338 Upon better advice, and doubtfull peradventure of the successe. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. i. §8 Covetousness..only affected with the certainty of things present, makes a peradventure of things to come. c 1790 Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 335 Some to be saved infallibly, and others to be left to a peradventure. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw I. 251 The Bush and all its peradventures of hardship and solitude. 1871 H. B. Forman Living Poets 292 The poem..ends with shadowiness and peradventure. |
2. Phrases. a. out of peradventure, past peradventure, beyond peradventure, without (all) peradventure, out of the realm of uncertainty, beyond question, without doubt.
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 329 As soone as the matier was clere & out of parauentures. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 71 b, To whome [the devil] they will without peraduenture, if Goddes grace be not greater. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 96 In course of time, the matter was past all paradventure. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 88 In his good time, without all peraduenture, the Lord will looke vpon him. 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. 155 This is an approved cure, and beyond all peradventure. 1739 W. Melmoth Fitzosb. Lett. (1763) 177 True beyond all peradventure it is. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. iii. ii. (1866) 375 This was now proved beyond peradventure. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iii. v. 271 A state of natural punition that is, without a peradventure, endless. |
† b. by peradventure, at (a) peradventure, by haphazard, chance, or accident; at random, randomly. Obs.
| [1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 53 Such things as are done by chaunce-medley, or peraduenture without a setled minde.] 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts Prov. xvi. 33 The lots are throwne at randome and at peradventure. 1683 Exhortation & Advices 4 [It] is to choose a Persuasion at a peradventure. 1684–5 South Serm. (1727) I. 322 A Man by meer peradventure lights into Company. |
¶ 3. Used for adventure n.
| 1584 R. W. Three Ladies Lond. i. A iij, Faith ile goe seek paraduentures and be a seruing-creature. |