venture

Etymology

Clipping of adventure.

noun

1. A risky or daring undertaking or journey.
   Other jobs which the governor entrusted to Ch'ao-tung dealt with the economic exploitation of the newly won mountain areas. In the Miao-li region, Ch'ao-tung headed an office for developing the petroleum resources discovered there.³⁸ Without much success during his tenure, the venture was later turned over to private entrepreneurs. 1979, Johanna Menzel Meskill, A Chinese Pioneer Family, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, →OCLC, →OL, page 191
2. An event that is not, or cannot be, foreseen.
3. The thing risked; especially, something sent to sea in trade.

verb

1. (transitive) To undertake a risky or daring journey.
2. (transitive) To risk or offer.
   to venture funds
   to venture a guess
   Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
   Till then they had only exchanged glances of the most casual but now under the brim of her new hat she ventured a look at him and the face that met her gaze there in the twilight, wan and strangely drawn, seemed to her the saddest she had ever seen. 1922, James Joyce, chapter 13, in Ulysses
   … Mrs. Bray … expressed amazement at the speed with which the station was completed, and ventured the opinion that private contractors could still learn something from the railway companies. 1939 November, “What the Railways are Doing: Penda's Way—A Station built in a Day”, in Railway Magazine, page 364
3. (intransitive, with at or on) To dare to engage in; to attempt without any certainty of success.
4. (transitive) To put or send on a venture or chance.
   to venture a horse to the West Indies
5. (transitive) To confide in; to rely on; to trust.
   A man would be well enough pleased to buy silks of one whom he would not venture to feel his pulse. 1711, Joseph Addison, “No. 21, Saturday, March 24, 1710-11”, in The Spectator
6. (transitive) To say something; to offer an opinion.
   “Unctuous is probably quite a good description, but there's a sweetness, too, and a mouthfeel,” ventures Heston Blumenthal, chef at the Fat Duck at Bray. 2000-01-28, Oliver Burkeman, quoting Heston Blumenthal, “Things that make you go yum”, in The Guardian, →ISSN