Misadventure

4 definitions found

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

  Misadventure \Mis`ad*ven"ture\ (?; 135), n. [OE. mesaventure, F.
     m['e]saventure.]
     Mischance; misfortune; ill luck; unlucky accident; ill
     adventure. --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]
  


     {Homicide by misadventure} (Law), homicide which occurs when
        a man, doing a lawful act, without any intention of
        injury, unfortunately kills another; -- called also
        {excusable homicide}. See {Homicide}. --Blackstone.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Mischance; mishap; misfortune; disaster; calamity.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  misadventure
       n : an instance of misfortune [syn: {mishap}, {mischance}]

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

  33 Moby Thesaurus words for "misadventure":
     accident, blow, blunder, boner, bull, calamity, casualty,
     cataclysm, catastrophe, collision, contretemps, crack-up, crash,
     disaster, error, faux pas, grief, howler, ill hap, lapse,
     mischance, misfortune, mishap, nasty blow, pileup, shipwreck,
     shock, slip, smash, smashup, staggering blow, tragedy, wreck
  
  

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

  MISADVENTURE, crim. law, torts. An accident by which an injury occurs to 
  another. 
       2. When applied to homicide, misadventure is the act of a man who, in 
  the performance of a lawful act, without any intention to do harm, and after 
  using proper precaution to prevent danger, unfortunately kills another 
  person. The act upon which the death ensues, must be neither malum in se, 
  nor malum prohibitum. The usual examples under this head are, 1. When the 
  death ensues from innocent recreations. 2. From moderate and lawful 
  correction (q.v.)  in foro domestico. 3. From acts lawful and indifferent 
  in themselves, done with proper and ordinary caution. 4 Bl. Com. 182; 1 
  East, P C. 221.