HAZARD


Meaning of HAZARD in English

I. ˈhazə(r)d noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English hasard, hazard, from Middle French hasard, from Arabic az-zahr the die

1.

a. : a game of chance like craps played with two dice

b. : chuck-a-luck

2.

a. : an adverse chance (as of being lost, injured, or defeated) : danger , peril

the discovery of atomic fission brought into hazard the industrial potential of any state which could not destroy its enemy before it was itself destroyed — H.J.Laski

b. : a thing or condition that might operate against success or safety : a possible source of peril, danger, duress, or difficulty

a coast visited by frequent dense fogs and mountains subject to violent storms constitute hazards to air travel — American Guide Series: California

c. : a condition that tends to create or increase the possibility of loss

3.

a. : the effect of unpredictable, unplanned, and unanalyzable forces in determining events : chance

men and women danced together, women danced together, men danced together, as hazard had brought them together — Charles Dickens

b. : an event occurring without design, forethought, or direction : accident

looked like a fugitive, who had escaped from something in clothes caught up at hazard — Willa Cather

4. : something risked (as stakes in gaming)

5. : one of the winning openings in a court-tennis court — compare dedans , grille , winning gallery

6. : a stroke by which a pool ball is holed after contact with another ball — compare losing hazard , winning hazard

7. : a golf-course obstacle restricting the player's stroke (as a bunker, sand trap, watercourse)

Synonyms: see chance , danger

- at hazard

II. transitive verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: Middle English hasarder, from hasard

1.

a. : to lay open to the risk of being lost, captured, or taken in or as if in a game of chance : gamble , bet , venture

hazarded a week's salary on a single turn of the cards

asked him to hazard a small sum in a business venture

b. : to expose to possible risk of loss or damage

so as not to hazard other buildings — New York City Fire Dept. Manual

2. : to take the risk of:

a. : to accept the chances and dangers of, venturing and daring to proceed or undertake despite them

decided to hazard an open battle

b. : to have the courage to put forward or offer and expose to possible rebuff or censure (as a guess or suggestion)

dares not hazard a prophecy — W.R.Sharp

Synonyms: see venture

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.