chance-medley

[ chans-med-lee, chahns- ]

/ ˈtʃænsˌmɛd li, ˈtʃɑns- /

a killing occurring during a sudden and unpredicted encounter.

aimless and random action.

Origin of chance-medley

First recorded in 1485–95, chance-medley is from the Anglo-French word chance medlee

That means one of two things: either that these laws arose by chance-medley, or that some one enacted them.

Science and Morals and Other Essays |Bertram Coghill Alan Windle
While this was transacting upon the quarter-deck, a chance-medley fight was going on throughout the ship.

Astoria |Washington Irving
Beware of malice prepense, of chance-medley, and of manslaughter.

The Prairie |J. Fenimore Cooper
I have not time or paper, else I could draw an inference, not very illustrative of your chance-medley system.

Mary Wollstonecraft |Elizabeth Robins Pennell

The end comes to both actions at once in the squalor of a chance-medley.

William Shakespeare |John Masefield

chance-medley

law a sudden quarrel in which one party kills another; unintentional but not blameless killing

C15: from Anglo-French chance medlee mixed chance