interven

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Intervened p. pr. & vb. n. Intervening. ] [ L. intervenire, interventum, to intervene, to hinder; inter between + venire to come; akin to E. come: cf. F. intervenir. See Come. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To come between, or to be between, persons or things; -- followed by between; as, the Mediterranean intervenes between Europe and Africa. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To occur, fall, or come between, points of time, or events; as, an instant intervened between the flash and the report; nothing intervened ( i. e., between the intention and the execution) to prevent the undertaking. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To interpose; as, to intervene to settle a quarrel. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. In a suit to which one has not been made a party, to put forward a defense of one's interest in the subject matter. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To come between. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Self-sown woodlands of birch, alder, etc., intervening the different estates. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who intervenes; especially (Law), a person who assumes a part in a suit between others.

{ } n. Intervention; interposition. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. interveniens, p. pr. of intervenire. ] Being or coming between; intercedent; interposed. [ Obs. ] Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Intervene. ] To thwart; to obstruct. [ Obs. ] Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. interventio an interposition: cf. F. intervention. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of intervening; interposition. [ 1913 Webster ]

Sound is shut out by the intervention of that lax membrane. Holder. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Any interference that may affect the interests of others; especially, of one or more states with the affairs of another; -- the intervention of one state in the affairs of another is typically unwelcome by the state being intervened in, but some cases of mediation between states may be called intervention. Opposed to nonintervention. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

Let us decide our quarrels at home, without the intervention, of any foreign power. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Civil Law) The act by which a third person, to protect his own interest, interposes and becomes a party to a suit pending between other parties. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L.: cf. F. interventeur. ] One who intervenes; a mediator; especially (Eccles. Hist.), a person designated by a church to reconcile parties, and unite them in the choice of officers. Coleman. [ 1913 Webster ]