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.

Of moving accidents by flood and field.
Shak.

Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident:
It is the very place God meant for thee.
Trench.

2. (Gram.) A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, as gender, number, case.

3. (Her.) A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms.

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.

5. Any accidental property, fact, or relation; an accidental or nonessential; as, beauty is an accident.

This accident, as I call it, of Athens being situated some miles from the sea.
J. P. Mahaffy.

6. Unusual appearance or effect. [Obs.] Chaucer.

&fist; Accident, in Law, is equivalent to casus, or such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation.

• 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
       Quotations
       *Of moving accidents by flood and field. - Shakespeare, Othello, I-iii
       *Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident: It is the very place God meant for thee. - Trench
  
• (Grammar): A property attached to a word, but not essential to it, as gender, number, case.
  
• (Military) An unplanned event that results in injury (including death) or occupational illness to person(s) and/or damage to property, exclusive of injury and/or damage caused by action of an enemy or hostile force.
  
• (Heraldry): A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms
  
• (Logic): A property or quality of a thing which is not essential to it, as whiteness in paper; an attribute
  
• (Logic): A quality or attribute in distinction from the substance, as sweetness, softness.
  
• Any accidental property, fact, or relation; an accidental or nonessential; as, beauty is an accident.
       Quotations
       *This accident, as I call it, of Athens being situated some miles from the sea. - J. P. Mahaffy
  
• (Obsolete): Unusual appearance or effect - Chaucer
       Note: Accident, in Law, is equivalent to casus, or such unforeseen, extraordinary, extraneous interference as is out of the range of ordinary calculation.
  
• A condition of affairs in which presence of mind is good, but absence of body better. - 1904, The Foolish Dictionary