hazard

1. (in driving a vehicle) An obstacle or other feature that presents a risk or danger that justifies the driver in taking action to avoid it.Examples: "Risk behavior in driving consists in hazard detection, threat appraisal, action selection and implementation. Hazard perception tests often include the task to react quickly to hazards within traffic scenarios."countableuncountable

2. (golf) A sand or water obstacle on a golf course.countableuncountable

3. (billiards) The act of potting a ball, whether the object ball (winning hazard) or the player's ball (losing hazard).countableuncountable

4. (historical) A game of chance played with dice, usually for monetary stakes; popular mainly from 14th c. to 19th c.Examples: "[T]here's Harry diets himself—for gaming and is now under a hazard Regimen."; "All the young men go to Spratt’s after their balls. It is de rigueur, my dear; and they play billiards as they used to play macao and hazard in Mr. Fox’s time."; "Hazard at the clubs and in fashionable society was conducted with all decorum. It was unfashionable and unpardonable to show any display of feeling at losses or gains."countablehistoricaluncountable

5. (obsolete) Anything that is hazarded or risked, such as a stake in gambling.Examples: "But if you please To shoot another arrow that self way Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, As I will watch the aim, or to find both Or bring your latter hazard back again And thankfully rest debtor for the first."Synonyms: bet, pledge, skin in the game, wagercountableobsoleteuncountable

6. (tennis) The side of the court into which the ball is served.countableuncountable