2 uses
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Definition
something that might happen — especially something that it is hoped will not happen
or more rarely:
something available in case of an event — especially an event that it is hoped will not occur
or more rarely:
something available in case of an event — especially an event that it is hoped will not occur
- ...receptive, silent as they, Finding my occupation, poverty, notoriety, foibles, crimes, less important than I thought, Me toward the Mexican sea, or in the Mannahatta or the Tennessee, or far north or inland, A river man, or a man of the woods or of any farm-life of these States or of the coast, or the lakes or Kanada, Me wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for contingencies, To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do.Book 1 — 1NSCRIPTIONS (78% in)
- 3 The sun and stars that float in the open air, The apple-shaped earth and we upon it, surely the drift of them is something grand, I do not know what it is except that it is grand, and that it is happiness, And that the enclosing purport of us here is not a speculation or bon-mot or reconnoissance, And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us, and without luck must be a failure for us, And not something which may yet be retracted in a certain contingency.Book 15 — A Song for Occupations (34% in)
There are no more uses of "contingency" in Leaves of Grass.
Typical Usage
(best examples)