randle

[RANTLE.] răn-dom, *ran-don, *ran-doun, *ran-down, 8. & a . [O. Fr.randon the swiftne and force of a strong stream: whence aller à grand randon = to go very fast (answering to the English at random ); randir to pre on; randonner = to run swiftly or chin, bench; go, gem; thin, this; range violently; Spanish de rend on, de rondon=rashly, abruptly, intrepidly. Ultimate etym. doubtful, but probably from Ger. rand =an edge, rim, brink, or margin, so that the reference is to the force of a brimming river.] [RAND, 8.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: *1. Force, violence; a violent or furious course; impetuosity. 2. The distance traveled by a mi ile; range, reach. "The angle, which the mi ive is to mount by, if we will have to go to its furthest random, must be the half of a right one."- Digby : On Bodies . 3. A roving motion or course without direction, want of direction, rule, or method; haphazard. (Only in the phrase at random , applied to anything. done at haphazard or chance.) "Like a scattered seed at random sown." Cowper: Table Talk. II. Mining : The distance from a determined horizon; the depth below a given plane. B. As adj .: Done at hazard or without any settled aim, purpose, or direction; left to chance; chance. haphazard, casual. "A random shaft." -Dryden: Virgil's Æneid , iv. random-courses, s . pl . Mason. & Paving: Courses of stone of unequal thickne .