happen

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♦♦♦ hap|pen /h'æpən/ (happens happening happened)
1 [VERB] V
Something that happens occurs or is done without being planned.
We cannot say for sure what will happen...
2 [VERB] V, V
If something happens, it occurs as a result of a situation or course of action.
She wondered what would happen if her parents found her...
He trotted to the truck and switched on the ignition. Nothing happened.
3 [VERB] V to n
When something, especially something unpleasant, happens to you, it takes place and affects you.
If we had been spotted at that point, I don't know what would have happened to us...
4 [VERB] V to-inf, it V that
If you happen to do something, you do it by chance. If it happens that something is the case, it occurs by chance.
We happened to discover we had a friend in common...
If it happens that I'm wanted badly somewhere, my mother will take the call and phone through to me here.
5 [PHRASE] V inflects, PHR with cl
You use as it happens in order to introduce a statement, especially one that is rather surprising.
She called Amy to see if she had any idea of her son's whereabouts. As it happened, Amy had.

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