Accident,

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Accident \Ac"ci*dent\, n. [F. accident, fr. L. accidens,
     -dentis, p. pr. of accidere to happen; ad + cadere to fall.
     See {Cadence}, {Case}.]
     1. Literally, a befalling; an event that takes place without
        one's foresight or expectation; an undesigned, sudden, and
        unexpected event; chance; contingency; often, an


        undesigned and unforeseen occurrence of an afflictive or
        unfortunate character; a casualty; a mishap; as, to die by
        an accident.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Of moving accidents by flood and field. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident:
              It is the very place God meant for thee. --Trench.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Gram.) A property attached to a word, but not essential
        to it, as gender, number, case.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Her.) A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in
        a coat of arms.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. (Log.)
        (a) A property or quality of a thing which is not
            essential to it, as whiteness in paper; an attribute.
        (b) A quality or attribute in distinction from the
            substance, as sweetness, softness.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     5. Any accidental property, fact, or relation; an accidental
        or nonessential; as, beauty is an accident.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              This accident, as I call it, of Athens being
              situated some miles from the sea.     --J. P.
                                                    Mahaffy.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. Unusual appearance or effect. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: Accident, in Law, is equivalent to casus, or such
           unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as
           is out of the range of ordinary calculation.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  accident
       n 1: a mishap; especially one causing injury or death
       2: anything that happens by chance without an apparent cause
          [syn: {fortuity}, {chance event}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  77 Moby Thesaurus words for "accident":
     accessary, accessory, accidental, addendum, addition, adjunct,
     adventure, appendage, appurtenance, auxiliary, blow, blunder,
     calamity, casualty, cataclysm, catastrophe, chance, chance hit,
     collateral, collision, coming to be, contingency, contingent,
     contretemps, crack-up, crash, destiny, disaster, event,
     eventuality, eventuation, extra, fate, fluke, fortuity, fortune,
     freak accident, grief, hap, happening, happenstance, hazard,
     ill hap, incidence, incidental, inessential, kismet, long odds,
     long shot, luck, lucky shot, materialization, mere chance,
     misadventure, mischance, misfortune, mishap, mistake, nasty blow,
     nonessential, not-self, other, pileup, realization, secondary,
     serendipity, shipwreck, shock, smash, smashup, staggering blow,
     subsidiary, superaddition, supplement, tragedy, unessential,
     wreck
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ACCIDENT, practice. This term in chancery jurisprudence, signifies such
  unforeseen events, misfortunes, losses, acts or omissions, as are not the
  result of any negligence or misconduct in the party. Francis' Max. M. 120,
  p. 87; 1 Story on Eq. Sec. 78.
       Jeremy defines it as used in courts of equity, to be "an occurrence in
  relation to a contract, which was not anticipated by the parties, when the
  same was entered into, and which gives an undue advantage to one of them
  over the other in a court of law." Jer. on Eq. 358.  This definition is
  objected to, because as accident may arise in relation to other things
  besides contracts, it is inaccurate in confining accidents to contracts;
  besides, it does not exclude cases of unanticipated occurrences, resulting
  from the negligence or misconduct of the party seeking relief. 1 Story on
  Eq. Sec. 78, note 1.
       2. In general, courts of equity will relieve a party who cannot obtain
  justice in consequence of an accident, which will justify the interposition
  of a court of equity.  The jurisdiction being concurrent, will be maintained
  only, first, when a court of law cannot grant suitable relief; and,
  secondly, when the party has a conscientious title to relief.
       3. Many accidents are redressed in a court of law; as loss of deeds,
  mistakes in receipts and accounts, wrong payments, death, which makes it
  impossible to perform a condition literally, and a multitude of other
  contingencies; and many cannot be redressed even in a court of equity; is if
  by accident a recovery is ill suffered, a contingent remainder destroyed, or
  a power of leasing omitted in a family settlement. 3 Bl. Comm. 431. Vide,
  generally, Com. Dig. Chancery, 3 F 8; 1 Fonb. Eq. B. 1, c. 3, s. 7; Coop.
  Eq. Pl. 129; 1 Chit. Pr. 408; Harr. Ch. Index, h.t.; Dane's Ab. h.t.;
  Wheat. Dig. 48; Mitf. Pl. Index, h.t.; 1 Madd. Ch. Pr. 23; 10 Mod. R. 1, 3;
  3 Chit. Bl. Com. 426, n.
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  ACCIDENT, n.  An inevitable occurrence due to the action of immutable
  natural laws.
  
  

From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:

  Accident, MD (town, FIPS 225)
    Location: 39.62694 N, 79.32088 W
    Population (1990): 349 (155 housing units)
    Area: 1.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
    Zip code(s): 21520

From U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000) [gaz-place]:

  Accident, MD -- U.S. town in Maryland
     Population (2000):    353
     Housing Units (2000): 162
     Land area (2000):     0.496408 sq. miles (1.285690 sq. km)
     Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
     Total area (2000):    0.496408 sq. miles (1.285690 sq. km)
     FIPS code:            00225
     Located within:       Maryland (MD), FIPS 24
     Location:             39.628074 N, 79.319996 W
     ZIP Codes (1990):     21520
     Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
     Headwords:
      Accident, MD
      Accident