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

	

	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

	

	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.

	

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

	

	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

	

	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