Verb

(en verb)

To occur or take place.

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)

, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.}}

To occur unexpectedly, by chance or with a low probability.

To encounter by chance.

* 1860 , , The Marble Faun , ch. 30:

Unexpectedly, in a nook close by the farmhouse, he happened upon a spot where the vintage had actually commenced.

Verb

(en verb)

To move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to continue or renew motion begun.

to proceed on a journey.

To pass from one point, topic, or stage, to another.

To proceed with a story or argument.

To issue or come forth as from a source or origin; to come from.

Light proceeds from the sun.

To go on in an orderly or regulated manner; to begin and carry on a series of acts or measures; to act by method; to prosecute a design.

* John Locke

he that proceeds upon other Principles in his Enquiry

To be transacted; to take place; to occur.

* Shakespeare

He will, after his sour fashion, tell you / What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.

To have application or effect; to operate.

* Ayliffe

This rule only proceeds and takes place when a person can not of common law condemn another by his sentence.

To begin and carry on a legal process. (rfex)