Fortune (fôrt&uuptack_;n; 135), n. [F. fortune, L. fortuna; akin to fors, fortis, chance, prob. fr. ferre to bear, bring. See Bear to support, and cf. Fortuitous.] 1. The arrival of something in a sudden or unexpected manner; chance; accident; luck; hap; also, the personified or deified power regarded as determining human success, apportioning happiness and unhappiness, and distributing arbitrarily or fortuitously the lots of life.
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'T is more by fortune, lady, than by merit. Shak.
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O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle. Shak.
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2. That which befalls or is to befall one; lot in life, or event in any particular undertaking; fate; destiny; as, to tell one's fortune.
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You, who men's fortunes in their faces read. Cowley.
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3. That which comes as the result of an undertaking or of a course of action; good or ill success; especially, favorable issue; happy event; success; prosperity as reached partly by chance and partly by effort.
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Our equal crimes shall equal fortune give. Dryden.
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There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Shak.
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His father dying, he was driven to seek his fortune. Swift.
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4. Wealth; large possessions; large estate; riches; as, a gentleman of fortune.

Syn. -- Chance; accident; luck; fate.
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Fortune book, a book supposed to reveal future events to those who consult it. Crashaw. -- Fortune hunter, one who seeks to acquire wealth by marriage. -- Fortune teller, one who professes to tell future events in the life of another. -- Fortune telling, the practice or art of professing to reveal future events in the life of another.
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Fortune, v. i. To fall out; to happen.
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It fortuned the same night that a Christian, serving a Turk in the camp, secretely gave the watchmen warning. Knolles.
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