For"tune (fôr"t&usl;n; 135), n.
[F. fortune, L. fortuna; akin to fors,
fortis, chance, prob. fr. ferre to bear, bring. See
Bear to support, and cf. Fortuitous.]
1. The arrival of something in a sudden or
unexpected manner; chance; accident; luck; hap; also, the personified
or deified power regarded as determining human success, apportioning
happiness and unhappiness, and distributing arbitrarily or
fortuitously the lots of life.
'T is more by fortune, lady, than by
merit.
Shak.
O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee
fickle.
Shak.
2. That which befalls or is to befall one;
lot in life, or event in any particular undertaking; fate; destiny;
as, to tell one's fortune.
You, who men's fortunes in their faces
read.
Cowley.
3. That which comes as the result of an
undertaking or of a course of action; good or ill success;
especially, favorable issue; happy event; success; prosperity as
reached partly by chance and partly by effort.
Our equal crimes shall equal fortune
give.
Dryden.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Shak.
His father dying, he was driven to seek his
fortune.
Swift.
4. Wealth; large possessions; large estate;
riches; as, a gentleman of fortune.
Syn. -- Chance; accident; luck; fate.
Fortune book, a book supposed to reveal
future events to those who consult it. Crashaw. --
Fortune hunter, one who seeks to acquire wealth
by marriage. -- Fortune teller, one who
professes to tell future events in the life of another. --
Fortune telling, the practice or art of
professing to reveal future events in the life of another.
For"tune, v. t. [OF. fortuner,
L. fortunare. See Fortune, n.]
1. To make fortunate; to give either good or bad
fortune to. [Obs.] Chaucer.
2. To provide with a fortune.
Richardson.
3. To presage; to tell the fortune of.
[Obs.] Dryden.
For"tune, v. i. To fall out; to
happen.
It fortuned the same night that a Christian,
serving a Turk in the camp, secretely gave the watchmen
warning.
Knolles.
