random
B2Meanings
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1
noun
A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
Still take advice ; though counsels, when they fly / At random, sometimes hit most happily.
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2
noun
Speed, full speed; impetuosity, force.
they were messagers vnto kyng Ban & Bors sent from kynge Arthur / therfor said the viij knyghtes ye shalle dye or be prysoners / for we ben knyghtes of kyng Claudas And therwith two of them dressid theire sperys / and Vlfyus and Brastias dressid theire speres and ranne to gyder with grete raundon
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3
noun
The full range of a bullet or other projectile; hence, the angle at which a weapon is tilted to allow the greatest range.
Fortie yards will they shoot levell, or very neare the marke, and 120 is their best at Random.
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4
noun
An undefined, unknown or unimportant person; a person of no consequence.
The party was boring. It was full of randoms.
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5
noun
A frame for composing type.
Utilization of all floor space underneath case racks and randoms is another feature of the modern composing room; […]
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6
adj
Occurring for no particular reason; haphazard, unpredictable.
Our city is plagued by random acts of violence.
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7
adj
Involving an outcome which is impossible to predict, but which may be represented by a probability distribution; in the ideal case, involving outcomes which are equally likely.
Near-synonyms: aleatory, stochastic
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8
adj
Pseudorandom; mimicking the result of random selection.
The rand function generates a random number from a seed.
Etymology
From earlier randon, from Middle English randoun, raundon, from Old French randon, from randir (“to run, gallop”) (whence French randonnée (“long walk, hike”)), from Frankish *randiju (“a run, race”) or Old Norse rend (“a run, race”), both from Proto-Germanic *randijō, from *rinnaną (“run”, verb), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)r̥-nw- (“to flow, move, run”). Cognate with Middle Low German uprinden (“to jump up”), Danish rende (“to run”). See run.