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. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T is more by fortune, lady, than by merit. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

You, who men's fortunes in their faces read. Cowley. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our equal crimes shall equal fortune give. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

His father dying, he was driven to seek his fortune. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Wealth; large possessions; large estate; riches; as, a gentleman of fortune.

Syn. -- Chance; accident; luck; fate. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ OF. fortuner, L. fortunare. See Fortune, n. ] 1. To make fortunate; to give either good or bad fortune to. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To provide with a fortune. Richardson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To presage; to tell the fortune of. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To fall out; to happen. [ 1913 Webster ]

It fortuned the same night that a Christian, serving a Turk in the camp, secretely gave the watchmen warning. Knolles. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Luckless; also, destitute of a fortune or portion. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. small genus of shrubs called kumquats, native to South China, producing small ovoid orangelike fruits called kumquats.
Syn. -- genus Fortunella. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. a person who claims to be able to foretell events in the future of another person.
Syn. -- fortune teller, fortune-teller.
-- for"tune*tel`ling, n. [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]