| 释义 |
▪ I. random, n., a., and adv.|ˈrændəm|
Forms: α. 4 randun, 4–6 -doun (also 4 ren-, 6 Sc. rayn-), 5 -down, 5–6 -downe, -doune; 4–6 -done, 4–7 -don, (7 -dan.). β. 4–5 raundoun, 5 -done, 5–6 -don; 5 rawndoune, Sc. -down. γ. 6 raundom, 6–8 randome, -dum, 5– random.
[a. OF. randon (rendon, etc.), f. randir to run fast, gallop. The change of final -n to -m is independent of the very rare OF. form random: cf. ransom.]
A. n.
I.
†1.
a. Impetuosity, great speed, force, or violence (in riding, running, striking, etc.); chiefly in phr. with (or in) great randon (= OF. de or a grant randon). Also, with a, an impetuous rush, a rapid headlong course; chiefly in phr. in (on, or with) a randon (= OF. en un randon); hence Sc. a straight course, direct line. Obs.
In common use from c 1300 to the early part of the 16th c.
c1305Land Cokayne 132 in E.E.P. (1862) 159 Þe monkes liȝtiþ noȝt adun. Ac furre fleeþ in o randun. 1375Barbour Bruce v. 632 He..Raucht him sic rout in randoun richt. c1450Merlin vii. 118 Than thei..ronnen a-gein hym with as grete raundon as their horse myght hem bere. c1477Caxton Jason 57 The ship..hurtlyd again the ground in suche a random and force that hit was all to broken. 1513Douglas æneis i. vi. 149 Behald tuelf swannis in randoun glaid and fair [L. ordine longo]. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clvii. 191 The frenchmen..came on them with great randon, their speares in their restes. 15942nd Rep. Dr. Faustus in Thoms Prose Rom. (1858) III. 396 Two great waves..meeting together by long randome. 1600Holland Livy vii. xxiv. 265 The barbarous people..fled in this randon beyond their tents. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xx. (1632) 964 The Kings vantgard..giuing in among them with full randon, slew first such Captaines as resisted. 1889‘Mark Twain’ Conn. Yankee xv. 180 Two knights came together with great random.
†b. A rush or stream (of words, fire). Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 423/1 Randone, or longe renge of wurdys, or other thyngys,..haringga. c1450Merlin 219 The dragon..caste oute of his throte so grete raundon of fiere in-to the aire..that it semed all reade.
2. Phr. at (the) randon or random.
†a. Hawking. (See quot. 1486). Obs.
1486Bk. St. Albans D j b, If the fowle spryng not bot flee a long after the Reuer and the hawke nym it then ye shall say she slew it at the Raundon. 1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 145 They [Jesuits] haue, like great fawcons or hawkes of the Tower, firmely seazed vpon the pray, kild, at randon, wing, or souce.
†b. Mil. Applied to some method of encounter in a tournament (contrasted with at the tilt). Obs.
1538Elyot, Decursio, Iustes, as at the tylte or randon. 1587Holinshed Chron. III. 833/2 At the randon and turneie the duke of Suffolke hurt a gentleman. a1648Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1683) 52 The Laws on Horse-back were, that with Sharp Spears they should run fiue Courses at Tilt, and fiue more at Randon.
†c. ? At full speed. Obs. rare—1.
1632Lithgow Trav. vi. 264 Wee found twelve..Turkes, ready to receiue vs,..who foorthwith opened at randon the two great Brazen halfes of the Doore.
3. Phr. at random, orig. at great speed, without consideration, care, or control; hence,
a. with vbs. of action or occurrence: At haphazard, without aim, purpose, or fixed principle; heedlessly, carelessly, etc. (Cf. also sense B. 1 b.)
Chiefly used with verbs of moving, striking, throwing, speaking, thinking, or taking; in early use esp. in the phr. to run at random (very common down to c 1650).
1565Jewel Replie Harding viii. §16 Leaste he happen..to renne at randon. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 84 He talkes at randon: sure the man is mad. 1592― Ven. & Ad. 940 Hatefully at randon doest thou hit. 1616Drummond of Hawthornden Poems i. C j b, Psyche's louer hurles his Darts at randon. 1662Gerbier Principles 16 Not to Build at Randome, as the Custome of too many ill Builders is. 1729Butler Serm. Hum. Nat. ii. Wks. 1874 II. 32 Man cannot be considered as a creature left by his Maker to act at random. 1796H. Hunter tr. St. Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. Pref. 9 A few passages, not selected, but picked up at random. 1833J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 33 This composition is then dropped upon the surface..at random, leaving the effect to chance. 1862Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. vi. 193 Eclipses..formerly were supposed to occur at random. 1898W. A. Whitworth Expectation of Parts 7 If a magnitude s be divided at random into n parts, the expectation of each part is s/n. 1921Biometrika XIII. 309 An event happens at random once in a period m, therefore its chance of occurring in an interval of time or space δt is δt/m. 1931H. Jeffreys Scientific Inference iii. 24 We select at random m of the objects... We need a definition of what we mean by at random. We mean that every possible selection of m objects from the original n is equally probable. 1951Jrnl. Ecol. XXXIX. 172 The principle of contagion..is that the groups are distributed at random and that the number of individuals in each group is also random.
b. Similarly with ns. Somewhat rare.
a1653Gouge Comm. Hebr. xiii. 20 To shew that Christ is a Shepherd not at random for any sheep, but that he hath a peculiar flock belonging unto him. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 930 Thy words at random, as before, Argue thy inexperience. 1784Cowper Task ii. 522 Their answers, vague And all at random, fabulous and dark.
c. (to leave) in a neglected or untended condition. Now rare.
1582N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. 162 b, The Caruell,..being thus left at randon,..fell vpon certaine Rockes. 1642Rogers Naaman 537 Leaving thy flock and charge at random. 1848Keble Serm. Pref. 12 How can there be any comparison of safe or unsafe, if all be left at random?
†d. (to leave or live) at liberty, free from restraint or control. Obs.
1569in Bolton Stat. Irel. (1621) 313 Libertie to..liue at randan. 1590Spenser F.Q. iii. x. 36 The gentle Lady, loose at randon lefte, The greene-wood long did walke. 1632Lithgow Trav. ix. 388 There was not a Bandit left at randon in all Sicilia. 1694R. L'Estrange Fables (J.), In the days of old the birds lived at random in a lawless state of anarchy.
4. A random course (now rare). Also, that which is random; random state, randomness.
In early use perh. directly from sense 1, but latterly influenced by the phr. at random.
1561Sackville & Norton Gorboduc i. ii. 127 When such beginning of such liberties..Shall leaue them free to randon of their will. c1624Lushington Serm. Resurr. in Phenix (1708) II. 480 We follow not the random of their roving, but take the sum of their saying. 1670Cotton Espernon i. 11. 58 Making stories, as it is his custom at the random of his own passion, and fancy. 1813G. Edwards Meas. True Pol. 86 As if the ant and bee..had..proceeded in chaotic randoms upon points actually unascertained in nature. 1929R. Bridges Testament of Beauty ii. 44 As when a high moon thru' the rifted wrack gleameth upon the random of the windswept night. 1969Listener 13 Nov. 678/3 ‘There's a lot of random in our songs,’ says Paul [McCartney].
II. techn.
†5. Gunnery. The range of a piece of ordnance; properly, long or full range obtained by elevating the muzzle of the piece; hence, the degree of elevation given to a gun, and spec. that which gives the utmost range (45°). Obs.
1571Digges Pantom. Pref. A iij b, Science in great Ordinance especially to shoote exactly at Randons. 1588Lucar tr. Tartaglia's Colloq. Shooting 4 How a Table of Randons may be made for any peece of ordinance. 1661S. Partridge Double Scale Proport. 85 How far will a Cannon carry her Bullet at her best Randon, that carrieth it at point-blank 360 paces. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 71 The next Shot was at five degrees Random, and at that mounture the shot was conveyed 416 Paces. 1731J. Gray Gunnery 81 The random and direction of a piece on the plane of the horizon being given..find it's random on an inclined plane.
fig.1667Denham Direct. Painter i. 26 The Duke himself..was not out of dangers random set. 1697J. Sergeant Solid Philos. A iv, Fancy let loose to fly at its full Random, and driven forward with a quick Wit.
†b. Phr. at random, at any range other than point-blank. Obs.
1588Lucar tr. Tartaglia's Colloq. Shooting App. 62 To know how he shoote in the said peece at randon. 1612Capt. Smith Map Virginia 24 Forty yards will they shoot level or very neare the mark, and 120 is their best at Random. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 67 How to make a good Shot either of Point-blank, or at Random. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 137 Two unshapen Sakers..one of which at random killed a Rajah some four months ago.
6. Mining. The direction (of a rake vein, etc.).
1653E. Manlove Lead Mines 261 Break-offs, and Buckers, Randum of the Rake. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. D ij b, Observe whether such leading keep its course according to the Randome of the Vein already cut. 1866Durham Mining Lang., We must lower the sump from yon level down to the random of Wiregill lower-level.
7. (From B. 3.)
a. Building. Stone of irregular sizes, or a piece of this.
1886in Rochdale Gloss.
b. Dyeing. Clouded yarn.
1874W. Crookes Dyeing & Calico-Print. xii. 102 Scarlet Random [etc.].
8. Printing. (See quots.)
1888C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 110 Random, a special frame used by compositors in making-up. 1898J. Southward Mod. Printing I. iv. 29 Making-up Frames..consist of an ordinary whole frame, fitted with a ‘random’—that is, a sloping board, corresponding to a case, with ledges running along it transversely. 1910A. Bennett Clayhanger i. xii. 101 Under the furniture rack was the ‘random’, full of galleys. 1922W. H. Sclater What Compositor should Know I. 82 Randoms, on which new composition is placed for the purpose of being ‘made up’ into column form or page form. 1960G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. 341/2 Random, the sloping work-top of a composing frame.
B. adj. (from phr. at random: see A. 3).
1. a. Not sent or guided in a special direction; having no definite aim or purpose; made, done, occurring, etc., at haphazard.
1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. vii. §29 In vain do staid heads make serious comments on light mens random-expressions. 1697Dryden æneid iv. 95 The watchful Shepherd..Wounds with a random Shaft the careless Hind. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 275 She shews..How random thoughts now meaning chance to find. 1764Burn Poor Laws 190 Leaving the poor to be supported by random charity. 1827Roberts Voy. Centr. Amer. 172 The random and ill-directed fire of the Spaniards. a1845Hood Song, ‘O Lady, leave thy silken thread’ i, Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless hand Some random bud will meet. 1877E. R. Conder Bas. Faith iii. 102 The random working of our..intellect.
b. Statistics. Governed by or involving equal chances for each of the actual or hypothetical members of a population; also, produced or obtained by a random process (and therefore completely unpredictable in detail); random distribution, a probability distribution, esp. the Poisson distribution; random error: see error 4 d; random noise (see quot. 1954); random number, a number selected from a given set of numbers in such a way that all the numbers in the set have the same chance of selection; also, a pseudorandom number; random process, (a process characterized by) a sequence of random variables (see also quot. 1937); random sample, a sample drawn at random from a population, each member of it having an equal or other specified chance of inclusion (sometimes contrasted with quota sample s.v. quota n. 4); so random sampling; random selection, a random sample; random sampling; random variable, random variate, a variable whose values are distributed in accordance with a probability distribution; random walk, the movement of something in successive steps, the direction, length, or other property of each step being governed by chance independently of preceding steps.
1898Phil. Trans. R. Soc. CXCI. 230 Every artificial or even random selection of a group out of a community changes not only the amount of variation, but the amount of correlation of the organs of its members as compared with those of the primitive group. 1900Phil. Mag. L. 157 (heading) On the criterion that a given system of deviations from the probable in the case of a correlated system of variables is such that it can be reasonably supposed to have arisen from random sampling. Ibid. 164 The question we wish to determine is whether the sample may be reasonably considered to represent a random system of deviations from the theoretical frequency distribution of the general population. 1905K. Pearson in Nature 27 July 294/2 (heading) The problem of the random walk. 1924Bell Syst. Technical Jrnl. III. 88 (heading) Deviation of random samples from average conditions. 1925F. C. Mills Statistical Meth. xvi. 552 Great care is generally needed in securing a purely random selection. The obvious procedure of picking the most readily available cases would by no means meet the condition of random selection. 1927Tracts for Computers xv. p. iii, In order to form this table of random numbers 40,000 digits were taken at random from census reports and combined by fours to give 10,000 numbers. Ibid., These numbers, if truly random, could be used in a very great variety of ways for artificial sampling. 1933Forestry VII. 149 As far as possible a random arrangement of replicated treatments and controls was adopted. 1936Jrnl. Ecol. XXIV. 232 The simplest assumption, and the one most frequently made, concerning the distribution of the individuals of a plant species, is that it is random, i.e. that the chance that an individual shall occur in a given spot is the same for all spots... The chances that 0, 1, 2, 3,..individuals shall occur in a sample area large enough to contain very many individuals, are given by the terms of the Poisson series. Ibid. 240 Fig. 5 illustrates the divergence from random distribution. 1937H. Cramér (title) Random variables and probability distributions. Ibid. viii. 90 The set of variables Zτ will be said to define a homogeneous random process if, for τ1 ≥ 0, τ2 > 0, the difference Uτ1τ2 = Zτ1 + τ2 - Zτ1 is a random variable which is independent of the variable Zτ1 and has a d[istribution] f[unction] which is independent of τ1. 1938Jrnl. R. Statist. Soc. CI. 147 In colloquial speech the word ‘random’ is applied to any method of choice which lacks aim or purpose; and this usage is also found in certain sciences. In statistics, however, the word has a somewhat different and more definite significance, closely related to probability. 1939Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CCVII. 747 Corresponding to the constrictions in the vocal passages from which are made the unvoiced sounds the Voder contains an electrical ‘random noise’ source which by itself produces a continuous hissing sound. 1946C. E. Weatherburn First Course in Math. Statistics ii. 21 The method thus uses the similarity of the marbles to ensure that the selection is random. 1948Tracts for Computers xxv. (title) Random normal deviates. Ibid. p. iii, They may be regarded as fair random samples from a normal universe having a zero mean and a unit standard deviation. 1949, etc. [see pseudorandom a.]. 1951Jrnl. Ecol. XXXIX. 172 In a random distribution the variance is equal to the mean, and the variance divided by the mean..can be used to test departures from a random distribution. 1952, etc. [see quota sample]. 1953J. B. Carroll Study of Language vii. 204 Communication theory is forced to regard messages as random processes. Ibid. 245 We use the term random process in the statistical sense: a random process is the sampling at random from a population of potential events. 1954T. W. Anderson in P. F. Lazarsfeld Math. Thinking in Social Sci. i. 35 Since each individual's sequence of opinions is a random variable (i.e., there is a probability attached to each possible sequence), the total number of individuals holding a given sequence is a random variable. 1954L. L. Beranek Acoustics xiii. 393 Random noise is an acoustical quantity (e.g., sound pressure) or an electrical quantity (e.g., voltage) whose instantaneous amplitudes occur, as a function of time, according to a normal (Gaussian) distribution curve. A common random noise is that resulting from the random motion of molecules of the air... Random noise need not have a flat (uniform) frequency spectrum. Ibid., White noise need not be random. 1959Oxf. Univ. Gaz. 5 Mar. 678/1 Random variates, probability, and likelihood. 1963B. Fozard Instrumentation & Control of Nuclear Reactors vii. 71 Radioactive disintegrations are truly random, i.e. the probability of a disintegration is independent of the occurrence of other events. 1967C. Berners-Lee in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. 5 In an agricultural experiment to determine the effect of two different fertilizers, N and P for instance, the classical approach would be to compare unfertilized plots with suitably chosen random selections of plots fertilized with N; also to compare with the unfertilized plots a number of plots fertilized only with P. 1967G. Wills in Ibid. 186 Random samples..ensure that if we are drawing a sample from the 27,000 paint retailers in the United Kingdom each retailer would have an equal chance of being selected. This is not what is generally meant in common parlance by ‘random’, but it is what the statistician means. 1968P. A. P. Moran Introd. Probability Theory i. 6 A random variable is also sometimes called a ‘variate’. Ibid. x. 459 The study of random walks is the study of the sums of random variables, these variables varying in complexity from simple independent distributions in one dimension to random variables of a much more complicated character. 1970W. B. Davenport Random Processes ix. 299 Such an infinite family of random variables is commonly called a random sequence or random process (or stochastic sequence or stochastic process). 1971[see quota method]. 1973Lord & Robinson tr. Kuttruff's Room Acoustics viii. 211 The room under investigation..is excited by stationary random noise..with a large frequency bandwidth. 1973F. E. Fischer Fund. Statistical Concepts vii. 139 We can think of most discrete random variables as counts (how many heads, children, spades, or accidents?) and most continuous random variables as measures (how tall, long, heavy, or intelligent?). 1975R. B. Ellis Statistical Inference ii. 17 What counts is making sure that the sample really is random, that at any time any item in the population has as much chance of being chosen as any other item in the population. 1975Sci. Amer. May 48/3 A series of numbers is random if the smallest algorithm capable of specifying it to a computer has about the same number of bits of information as the series itself. 1977Private Eye 1 Apr. 5/2 The naive random walk theory..rules out the application of any device based upon the movement of past prices in the market. 1978Sci. Amer. Apr. 71/2 One way to test for the role of chance in such a situation is to devise a Monte Carlo computer program, which generates random numbers to determine the distances and angles between consecutive directional changes of simulated tracks.
c. Psychol. Of activity, movements, etc.: seeming to be without purpose or direct relationship to a stimulus, sometimes thought of as an organism's initial reaction to unfamiliar stimuli, and giving way to directed action as learning takes place.
1905Psychol. Bull. II. 251 Fuhrmann noted prevalence of predicative association and of the egocentric factors; moreover, especially in the beginning of tests, random association. 1911E. L. Thorndike Animal Intelligence vi. 242 If the movements are really random, they occur by virtue of some force that works at random. 1927J. Adams Errors in School x. 304 The knowledge the psycho-analyst acquires by random-answering is knowledge-by-the-way so far as the instructor is concerned. 1927M. K. Thomson Springs of Human Action v. 74 Undifferentiated activity (random movement), among the native tendencies none is more primitive and fundamental than activity. 1934Crozier & Hoagland in C. Murchison Handbk. Gen. Exper. Psychol. 20 It is to be noted that there is obtainable in this way a measure of ‘random’ movements and a key to their interpretation. 1935K. Koffka Princ. Gestalt Psychol. xiii. 629 Trial and error may then mean that he gets a ‘hunch’ from the data... This would no longer be random activity, but activity determined by the nature of the task. 1935E. L. Thorndike Psychol. of Wants, Interests & Attitudes ii. 13 The fact of multiple response or varied reaction..has led to the error of assuming that man at least had a tendency to make responses that were random. Ibid., There doubtless is a residuum of behavior that may be called random. 1948E. R. Hilgard Theories of Learning v. 116 Although it was often convenient to talk about ‘random’ or ‘spontaneous’ responses, it was not doubted that stimuli were present to elicit them.
2. Of persons: Living irregularly. rare.
c1825Houlston Tracts II. No. 60. 6 ‘In my time, Sir’, said he, ‘I've been random and free, But I now prefer order and quiet’. 1873H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. xv. 371 Continually we remark that men who were random grow steady when they have children to provide for.
3. techn.
a. Said of masonry, in which the stones are of irregular sizes and shapes. Cf. C. 2 b.
1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 339 Random Courses—Unequal courses, without any regard to equi-distant joints. 1886Chesh. Gloss. s.v., A random wall.
b. Of tooling: (see drove v.3).
1842Gwilt Archit. §1914 Droving is the same as that called random tooling in England, or boasting in London.
c. Of yarn = clouded 2 a.
1874W. Crookes Dyeing & Calico-Print. xii. 102 On the large scale the random yarns are coloured in machines.
4. random shot, a shot fired at random (orig. in sense 5 b of the n., but latterly apprehended as in sense 1 of the adj.).
1693Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 9 One of their random shotts killed lieutenant coll. Jackson. 1708Lond. Gaz. No. 4422/7 The nine Sail stood in fair with us near random Shot. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. lxviii. (1869) III. 716 The first random shots were productive of more sound than effect. 1806A. Duncan Nelson 109 The..ship..had approached within random shot of the Leander. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 457 A random shot or the dagger of an assassin might in a moment leave the expedition without a head.
fig.1785Burns To J. Smith vi, The star that rules my luckless lot..Has blest me with a random-shot O' countra wit. 1809Malkin Gil Blas vii. vi. ⁋2 The random shot of..self-created guides in matters of taste.
5. random access (Computers): used to designate a memory or file all parts of which are directly accessible, so that it need not be read sequentially; esp. one in which the access time for any item is effectively independent of the location and the access time of the item last accessed.
1953Proc. IRE XLI. 1264/2 The random-access property also makes it easier to operate input, output, and external storage devices out of synchronism with the central computer. 1967New Scientist 5 Oct. 13/1 This type of memory, in which all addresses are directly accessible, is known as random-access, to distinguish it from the slower but cheaper type which is scanned sequentially, used for backing stores. 1969P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 414 The true random-access devices are static memories: core, thin film, electrostatic cathode-ray tubes, electronic. Most of the so-called random-access devices—drum, disk, tape loop, magnetic card file..—are really cyclic access devices. 1971Publishers' Weekly 9 Aug. 24/3 The advantage of random access disc storage is that all required files for a specific application will be on-line to the computer when that application is being processed. 1975T. W. Pratt Programming Languages iii. 87 A random access file is organized as a set of unordered records. Access is through an address that indicates the position of the record on the external device.
C. adv.
†1. = At random. Obs. rare.
1618Bolton Florus (1636) 96 The third lightnings of Annibal flew randome at us by Trasimenus lake. a1619M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. xi. §2 (1622) 313 Neither doe they runne randon, nor are they rolled, beside their ancient order.
2. Comb., as random-blown, random-cast, random-fashioned, random-rubbed adjs.; random-wise adv.
1790R. Merry Laurel Liberty (ed. 2) 7 Random-cast, beside some stream,..Thou ponder'st. 1839Darley Introd. Beaum. & Fl.'s Wks. (1839) I. 26 Most imaginative authors, perhaps, commence random-wise,..and save themselves the trouble of a total invention at first. 1862Illustr. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Industr. Dept., Brit. Div. II. No. 2253 Castellated circular turret, random rubbed; white quartz. 1871Tennyson in Contemp. Rev. XIX. 12 Tristram..sank Down on a drift of foliage random-blown. 1906Hardy Dynasts II. v. viii. 287 Ephemeral at the best all honours be,..So random-fashioned, swift, perturbable!
b. random-jointed (see quot. 1833 and B. 3 a).
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §185 Rubble stone, or random jointed ashlar work (free stone, rough as it comes from the quarry, laid in irregular courses). 1848[J. C. Wharton] Quarrendon Church 7 The external walls are built with random-jointed squared ashlar.
Hence ˈrandomish a., somewhat random; ˈrandomly adv.; ˈrandomness; also randoˈmicity = prec.
1824in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1825) 136 My son Jonathan is but a randomish sort of a chap. 1865Ch. Times 2 Sept. 276/3 Each rode his own hobby..so randomly and violently [etc.]. 1866J. Venn Logic of Chance ii. 30 We must also idealize the ‘randomness’ of the throwing of the penny. 1872Blackmore Maid of Sker 166 If any one cares for that sort of thing, who knows mankind's great randomness. 1891G. Meredith One of our Conq. I. xii. 228 He talked randomly of money. 1921J. M. Keynes Treat. Probability xxiv. 281 Many important differences of opinion in the treatment of probability have been due to confusion or vagueness as to what is meant by Randomness. 1936Rev. Sci. Instruments VII. 459/2 Fluctuations to be expected due to the randomicity of the counting. 1938Nature 14 May 881/2 Four tests for randomness..were applied to these numbers, with satisfactory results in each case. 1957P. Greig-Smith Quantitative Plant Ecol. iii. 51 Departure from randomness of distribution of a species indicates that one or few factors are determining the performance or survival of the species. 1959New Scientist Dec. 1144/3 An interesting point of this arrangement is that the lengths of the delays can be chosen randomly. 1963H. M. Morris Twilight of Evolution ii. 44 The natural tendency of all change is to create a greater degree of disorder and randomness. 1963T. & P. Morris Pentonville iv. 75 Half the men in each group were randomly selected on the basis of throwing dice. 1972Science 27 Oct. 392/3 Environmental randomicity of various kinds may have important implications in triggering evolutionary sequences that would be impossible or unlikely in non⁓stochastic environments. 1980Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts Feb. 138/1 The cosmos will end in heat death with all matter randomly diffused.
▪ II. random, v. rare.|ˈrændəm|
[f. the n.]
intr. To do something at random, to occur at random.
1889‘Mark Twain’ Conn. Yankee xxvii. 349 A thought came randoming overthwart this majestic dream. 1921R. Frost Let. 15 Apr. (1964) 127 She wasn't experimenting, poor thing. She was randoming, as Alisande hath it. |