Word.ws English Dictionary

chevisance

chevisance noun: provision(s), supply.

Noun

chevisance (countable and uncountable, plural chevisances)

  1. (obsolete) Provision(s), supply.
    • There was then neither such number of Altars, nor such chueisance of Masses, as hath beene sithence.1565, Jewel, Repl. Harding (1611), page 67
    • The store-house of Sunnes cheuisance... Oceanus.1602, Carew, Cornwall, page 29
  2. (obsolete) Booty.
    • When we with Magnyfycence goodys made chevysaunce.1526, Skelton, Magnyf., page 2264
    • make what cheuysaunce they lusted.1530, Tindale, Pract. Prelates, xii
  3. (obsolete) Remedy, resource, expedient, means of helping oneself.
    • Hir craftie chevesaunce tooke none effect in Brytayne1548, Chron, Hall, published 1809, page 406
    • Violated by Leger du main, or chevisance of wit.1650, B., Discollim., page 39
  4. (derogatory, obsolete) The raising of money (by a borrower, by some expedient).
    • If he shame to begge […] Then turneth he to fraude and crafty cheuesaunce, Of all men borowing on suertie, othe or seale.1510, Barclay, Mirr. Good Mann. (1570), C, iiij
    • Punyshment of Usurye […] shiftes and chevisances.1545, Act 37 Hen. VIII, c. 9
  5. (derogatory, obsolete, often) The furnishing of money (by a lender) for profit.
    • Couenous and fraudulent Feoffements […] to the overthrow of all true and plain dealing, bargaining and chevisance between man and man.1570, Act 13 Eliz., c. 5
    • Pitie, that any such knack of kanuerie, or covenous chevisance [...] should [...] overthrow [... a] state.1588, J. Harvey, Disc. in Thynne's Animadv., published 1865, page 146
  6. (obsolete) A contract or agreement (about a matter in dispute, such as a debt); in particular, an unlawful contract intended to evade laws against usury.
    • [Discussing events from June 1421.] […] committed to prison till he satisfied the commonalty for £17 10s which he did not deny having obtained from the said Guy by false chevisance, together with the sum of £53 8d, being double the amount of gain he had made from the other persons.1961, Philip E. Jones, Calendar of Plea and Memoranda Rolls, CUP Archive, page 102
    • Since, however, the form of such a canonical sale on credit was often or even mostly employed as a cover for loans with a mark-up, all chevisance came to be seen as deceitful, thus making the adjective “false” redundant. In any case it seems that the ecclesiastical courts in England did not...2023 November 6, Gijs Kruijtzer, Justifying Transgression, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, →ISBN
  7. (obsolete) Chivalrous adventure.
    • Fortune, the foe of famous cheuisaunce / Seldome (said Guyon) yields to vertue aide, / But in her way throwes mischiefe and mischaunce, / Whereby her course is stopt, and passage staid.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    • Ah! be it not pardie declared in France, / Or elsewhere told where court'sy is in prize, // That we forsook so fair a chevisance, / For doubt or fear that might from fight arise.1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, Book IV, lxxxi

Examples of chevisance in a sentence

  • A strong towne of defence, and for rich chevisance and quicke traffique a most delectable place.1609, Amm. Marcel., Holland, xxiii, iii, page 221:
  • […] carried their pillage […] to places of safety […] and full of gladnesse for their chevisance, did then come again to fetch more.1658, W. Burton, Itin. Anton., page 149:
  • In any case it seems that the ecclesiastical courts in England did not prosecute chevisance, but only usury on the basis of mutuum type loans, which[…]2023 November 6, Gijs Kruijtzer, Justifying Transgression, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, →ISBN:

Forms of chevisance

pluralchevisances
alternative formchevisaunce

Origin of chevisance

From Old French chevisance, from chevir (“provide”). The 'chivalrous adventure' sense is thought to be first used by Edmund Spenser, who incorrectly linked chevisance to Old French chevalerie (“chivalry”).

Questions about chevisance

What does chevisance mean?
Chevisance means provision(s), supply.
How do you use chevisance in a sentence?
A strong towne of defence, and for rich chevisance and quicke traffique a most delectable place.
What part of speech is chevisance?
Chevisance is a noun.
What is the plural of chevisance?
The plural of chevisance is chevisances.

Words near chevisance in the dictionary

  1. Chevington
  2. chevins
  3. cheviot
  4. Cheviot Hills
  5. cheviots
  6. chevisance
  7. chevisances
  8. chevisaunce
  9. chevisaunces
  10. chevkinite
  11. chevon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chevisance (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “chevisance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chevisance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.