Noun

(en noun)

The act or state of expecting or looking forward to an event as about to happen.

*

*:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

That which is expected or looked for.

*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/1

, passage=And so it had always pleased M. Stutz to expect great things from the dark young man whom he had first seen in his early twenties?; and his expectations had waxed rather than waned on hearing the faint bruit of the love of Ivor and Virginia—for Virginia, M. Stutz thought, would bring fineness to a point in a man like Ivor Marlay,

The prospect of the future; grounds upon which something excellent is expected to occur; prospect of anything good to come, especially of property or rank.

*1816 , (Jane Austen), , Vol.1 Ch.7:

*:Emma was not sorry to be pressed. She read, and was surprized. The style of the letter was much above her expectation . There were not merely no grammatical errors, but as a composition it would not have disgraced a gentleman; the language, though plain, was strong and unaffected, and the sentiments it conveyed very much to the credit of the writer. It was short, but expressed good sense, warm attachment, liberality, propriety, even delicacy of feeling. She paused over it, while Harriet stood anxiously watching for her opinion, with a "Well, well," and was at last forced to add, "Is it a good letter? or is it too short?"

The value of any chance (as the prospect of prize or property) which depends upon some contingent event.

(lb) The first moment; the long-run average value of a variable over many independent repetitions of an experiment.

(lb) The arithmetic mean.

The leaving of a disease principally to the efforts of nature to effect a cure.

Noun

(en noun)

Something not expected.

* 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Rickie Lambert’s debut goal gives England victory over Scotland'' (in ''The Guardian , 14 August 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/14/england-scotland-international-friendly]

They had begun brightly but the opening goal was such a blow to their confidence it almost came as a surprise when Walcott, running through the inside-right channel, beat the offside trap and, checking back on to his left foot, turned a low shot beyond Allan McGregor in the Scotland goal.

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=September 7, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= Moldova 0-5 England , passage=England were graphically illustrating the huge gulf in class between the sides and it was no surprise when Lampard added the second just before the half hour. Steven Gerrard found his Liverpool team-mate Glen Johnson and Lampard arrived in the area with perfect timing to glide a header beyond Namasco.}}

(attributive) Unexpected.

The feeling that something unexpected has happened.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)

, chapter=20 citation , passage=The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen.

(obsolete) A dish covered with a crust of raised pastry, but with no other contents.

(King)