Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IN-TER-VENE', v.i. [L. intervenio; inter and venio, to come.]

1. To come or be between persons or things; to be situated between. Thus the Atlantic intervenes between Europe and America; the Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa.
2. To come between points of time or events; as, the period that intervened between the treaty of Ryswick, and the treaty of Utrecht.
3. To happen in a way to disturb, cross or interrupt. Events may intervene to frustrate our purposes or wishes.
4. To interpose or undertake voluntarily for another. A third party may intervene and accept a bill of exchange for another.