▪ I. misfortune, n.
(mɪsˈfɔːtʃən, -uːn)
[f. mis-1 4 + fortune n.]
1. Bad or adverse fortune; ill-luck.
| 1502 Arnolde Chron. 60 b/2, For his mysse fortune they wepe and waile. 1535 Coverdale Ps. lxxii. 5 They come in no misfortune like other folke. 1579 Termes of Law 62 When any man by mysfortune is slaine by an horse or by a cart. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 5 When so her father deare Should of his dearest daughters hard misfortune heare. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §20 The common misfortune of Princes, that in so substantial a part of their Happyness..as depended upon their Marriage, Themselves had never any part. 1742 Act 15 Geo. II, c. 30 Persons who have the Misfortune to become Lunaticks. 1874 Mozley Univ. Serm. ix. 195 Misfortune, adversity, soften the human heart. |
| personified. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. iv. 36 And neuer dare misfortune crosse her foote, Vnlesse she doe it vnder this excuse. 1650 Waller Poems (1664) 180 Here weeps Misfortune, and there triumphs Crime. 1742 Gray Eton 57 Black Misfortune's baleful train! 1838 Lytton Leila i. ii, Misfortune set upon my brow her dark and fated stamp. |
b. An instance of this.
| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxviii. 257 After which season..fell to the Frenshe Kynge many and dyuerse mysfortunys. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 39 A misfortune which chaunced in the goulfe of the sea Atlantic. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 12 Nor shall our past Misfortunes more Be charg'd upon the ancient Score. 1767 Gray in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 69, I have many désagrémens that surround me; they have not dignity enough to be called misfortunes, but they feel heavy on my mind. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxx. III. 177 He might perhaps be affected by the personal misfortunes of his generous kinsmen. 1860 J. W. Warter Sea-board II. 181 To be deprived of Burial..has ever been looked upon as amongst the greatest of misfortunes. |
c. Proverbial phrases.
| 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. iii. 29 marg., Misfortunes seldome come alone. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. 1. §71 Let the fault or misfortune be what and whence it will. 1717 G. Redpath in Burns Mem. Wodrow (1838) I. p. vii, Which is not our crime but our misfortune. 1717 Addison tr. Ovid's Met. iii. Cadmus ad fin., You'll find it his misfortune, not his fault. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xxxii, Misfortunes, saith the adage, never come singly. 1862 Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. iii. 83 The overabundance of leisure..is often a misfortune rather than a fault. |
2. dial. and colloq. to have or meet with a misfortune: to have an illegitimate child. Hence used simply for: An illegitimate child, bastard.
| 1801 Har'st Rig liii, She wi' a Misfortune met, And had a bairn. 1835 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 42 It would be difficult for me to say that an Annandale woman's virtue is the worse for a misfortune. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy iii, ‘If you please, ma'am, I had a misfortune, ma'am’, replied the girl, casting down her eyes. 1866 Carlyle Remin. (1881) II. 156 A special ‘misfortune’ (so they delicately name it), being of Esther's own producing. ‘Misfortune’ in the shape ultimately of a solid tall ditcher. a 1881 ― in New Lett. Jane W. Carlyle (1903) I. 59 [‘Wee Jen’] Ann Cook's ‘misfortune’. |
▪ II. † misˈfortune, v. Obs.
Also 5 mes-.
[mis-1 1.]
a. impers. or said of an event: To happen unfortunately. b. intr. Of a person: To happen by mischance to do something. c. To be unfortunate, come to grief.
| 1466 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 173 It mesfortened me..to hurte my lege. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. ii. 340 And soo it mysfortuned hym, another stronge knyght met with hym. 1533 More Apol. 94 b, Whych thynge to se so mysfortune betwene any two crysten folke, is a thynge myche to be lamented. 1533 ― Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1102/1 As for this argument of mine..I missefortuned to make so feble, y{supt} he taketh euen a pleasure to play with it. 1599 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 276 Whatsoever shall happen to faille or misforten about the clock. 1615 E. Howes in Stow Ann. Pref. {fatpara}7 The Queene after mariage was conceiued with childe, but it misfortuned. |