aventure, in phr. at aventure, at adventure, at hazard, at random. Bible, 1 Kings xxii. 34 (improperly printed at a venture); ‘Certayn . . . rode forthe at adventure’, Berners, Froissart, I. cxcii. ME. aventure, chance, peril (Gower). Anglo-F. aventure, chance, danger, uncertainty: par aventure (Gower, Mirour, 1239).
averruncate, to avert, ward off. Butler, Hudibras, pt. i, c. 1. 758. L. auerruncare, to avert. Often explained in the 17th cent. by ‘to weed out’, or ‘to root up’, but Butler uses the word correctly. See NED.
aversation, aversion. Bacon, Essay 27.
avile, to hold cheap, think little of. B. Jonson, Prince Henry’s Barriers (Lady). Anglo-F. aviler, to debase (Gower).
avise, to see, observe; to think; refl. to bethink. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 31; iv. 2. 22; iii. 12. 10; refl. ii. 6. 46; iii. 3. 6. To be avised of, to be well informed about, Merry Wives, i. 4. 106; Meas. ii. 2. 132. ME. avise, refl. to consider (Chaucer, C. T. B. 664). Anglo-F. s’aviser, to take thought (Gower).
avisefull, observant. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 6. 26.
avision, a dream, vision. Douglas, Aeneid, iii. 1. 69. ME. avisioun (Lydgate, Temple of Glas, 1374). Anglo-F. avisioun (Gower).
aviso, advice, intelligence, piece of information. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Sir Moth); Habington, Castara, ed. Arber, p. 102. Span. aviso, information.
avouch, to maintain, make good. Mids. Night’s D., i. 1. 106; Tusser, Husbandry, § 10. 12. Hence avouch, assurance, Hamlet, i. 1. 37.
avoure, acknowledgement, avowal. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 3. 48. OF. avouer, an avowal, prop. infin., to avow.