Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CHANCE'-MED-LEY, n. [chance and medley, a mixture; but more properly, chaudemell, Norm. Fr. a hot debate, strife, or quarrel; chaud, hot, from L. calidus, and meller, for mesler, to mix.]

In law, the killing of a person by chance, when the killer is doing a lawful act; for if he is doing an unlawful act, it is felony. As if a man, when throwing bricks from a house into a street where people are continually passing, after giving warning to passengers to take care, should kill a person, this is chance-medley. But if he gives no warning, and kills a man, it is manslaughter.