a. Also 9 chancey. [f. CHANCE sb. + -Y1.]
1. Sc. Lucky. a. Bringing good fortune, auspicious; b. having good fortune, fortunate, happy. Obs.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. ii. 103. To the chancy wyndis [he slew in sacrifice] ane mylk quhite [beist]. Ibid., XII. vii. 128. Desyre to be chancy and fortunate.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Drink Eclog., Poems (1845), 57. Ye never saw sic chancy days.
1818. Miss Ferrier, Marriage, II. 132. ‘Puir tead, it’s no had a very chancy ootset.’
2. Sc. Lucky or safe to deal or meddle with; ‘canny.’
a. 1774. Fergusson, Poems (1789), II. 2 (Jam.). Some fiend or fairy, nae sae very chancy, Has driven me … To wed.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., v. ‘Tak tent o’ yoursell, my bonny lassie, for my horse is not very chancy.’
1870. Edgar, Runnymede, 161. Which it is not chancy to meddle with.
3. Liable to chance or sudden change, uncertain, ‘casual,’ risky, untrustworthy. colloq. or dial.
1860. Geo. Eliot, Mill on Fl., I. 166. There’s never so much pleasure in wearing a bonnet the second year, especially when the crowns are so chancy—never two summers alike.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, I. xxv. 221. City money is always very chancy.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., IV. xxviii. 236. By a roundabout course even a gentleman may make of himself a chancy personage.
1882. Contemp. Rev., 3. The crop, however, is a very ‘chancey’ one.
Hence Chanciness, casual quality.
1870. Spectator, 19 Nov., 1379. The illustration is admirable, and not least admirable for the chanciness’ of its effect.
