Adventure (from Latin res adventura, a thing about to happen), chance, and especially chance of danger; so a hazardous enterprise or remarkable incident. Thus an adventurer, from meaning one who takes part in some speculative course of action, came to mean one who lived by his wits and a person of no character.
The word is also used in certain restricted legal connections. Joint adventure, for instance, may be distinguished from partnership. A bill of adventure in maritime law (now apparently obsolete) is a writing signed by the shipmaster declaring that goods shipped in his name really belong to another, to whom he is responsible.
The bill of gross adventure in French maritime law is an instrument making a loan on maritime security.
See also
Other uses
The name Adventure may refer to—