miscarriage
    n 1: failure of a plan [syn: miscarriage, abortion]
    2: a natural loss of the products of conception [syn:
       spontaneous abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth] [ant:
       live birth]

Miscarriage \Mis*car"riage\, n.
   1. Unfortunate event or issue of an undertaking; failure to
      attain a proper or desired result or reach a destination;
      as, a serious miscarriage of justice.
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            When a counselor, to save himself,
            Would lay miscarriages upon his prince. --Dryden.
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   2. Ill conduct; evil or improper behavior; as, the failings
      and miscarriages of the righteous. --Rogers.
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   3. The act of bringing forth a child before the time it is
      viable; a premature birth, resulting in death of the
      fetus; spontaneous abortion.
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MISCARRIAGE, med. jurisp. By this word is technically understood the 
expulsion of the ovum or embryo from the uterus within the first six weeks 
after conception; between that time and before the expiration of the sixth 
month, when the child may possibly live, it is termed abortion. When the 
delivery takes place soon after the sixth month, it is denominated premature 
labor. But the criminal act of destroying the foetus at any time before 
birth, is termed in law, procuring miscarriage. Chit. Med. Jur. 410; 2 
Dunglison's Human Physiology, 364. Vide Abortion; Foetus. 

MISCARRIAGE, contracts, torts. By the English statute of frauds, 29, C. 
II., c. 3, s. 4, it is enacted that "no action shall be brought to charge 
the defendant upon any special promise to answer for the debt, default, or 
miscarriage of another person, unless the agreement," &c. "shall be in 
writing," &c. The word miscarriage, in this statute comprehends that species 
of wrongful act, for the consequences of which the law would make the party 
civilly responsible. The wrongful riding the horse of another, without his 
leave or license, and thereby causing his death, is clearly an act for which 
the party is responsible in damages, and therefore, falls within the meaning 
of the word miscarriage. 2 Barn. & Ald. 516; Burge on Sur. 21.