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