Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune.
- noun Good fortune or prosperity; success.
- noun One's personal fate or lot.
- intransitive verb To gain success or something desirable by chance.
- idiom (as luck would have it) As it turned out; as it happened.
- idiom (in luck) Enjoying success; fortunate.
- idiom (out of luck) Lacking good fortune.
- idiom (press/push) To risk one's good fortune, often by acting overconfidently.
- idiom (try (one's) luck) To attempt something without knowing if one will be successful.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To be lucky.
- To make lucky.
- noun A lock of wool twisted on the finger of a spinner.
- noun Fortune; hap; that which happens to a person by chance, conceived as having a real tendency to be favorable or unfavorable, or as if there were an inward connection between a succes sion of fortuitous occurrences having the same character as favorable or unfavorable.
- noun Good fortune; favorable hap; a supposed something, pertaining to a person, at least for a time, giving to fortuitous events a favorable character; also, in a weakened sense, a fortuitous combination of favorable occurrences.
- noun An object with which good fortune is thought to be connected; especially, a vessel for holding liquid, as a drinking-cup.
- noun Synonyms See
happy .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune.
Luck is often used by itself to meangood luck . - noun [Prov. Eng.] a small sum given back for luck to one who pays money.
- noun to receive some good, or to meet with some success, in an unexpected manner, or as the result of circumstances beyond one's control; to be fortunate.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Something that happens to someone by
chance , a chance occurrence. - noun A superstitious feeling that brings
fortune orsuccess . - noun
success - verb intransitive To
succeed bychance . - verb intransitive To rely on luck.
- verb transitive To carry out relying on luck.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)
- noun an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
- noun an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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While the romantic side of me would like to believe in "luck" - the karmic, cosmic smiling-upon-me type of luck, the scientific side of me completely agrees with Lena West.
Screw Luck? Really? Anne-Marie 2008
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And then, turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is against me? '
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And then, turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is against me? '
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Well, your luck is about to change with a little assistance from Lavish Lifestyles, LLC.
A Luxury Personal Concierge Taking Personalized Service to the Next Level 2007
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MAATHAI: They say that what we call luck is opportunity that meets preparedness.
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"I sometimes wonder if what we call luck is merely the will of God, " Otero observed sadly, -and that therefore Cochrane has been sent to scourge Spain for a reason.
Sharpe's Devil Cornwell, Bernard 1992
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"Well, this is what I call luck!" exclaimed Ferd Stowing.
Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island The Mystery of the Wreck Janet D. Wheeler
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"Well, this is what I call luck -- pure, unadulterated luck, with sugar on it," drawled Ham as he surveyed the house.
Buffalo Roost F. H. Cheley
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"Ephraim, my son!" said the old gambler, with a cunning smile, "I'll tell you something -- There are persons whose whole powers are devoted to one object -- how to win a fortune; in the same way as there are some who study to become doctors, and the like, so these study what we call luck ... and from them I've learned it."
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Whenever you hear any one expatiating upon what he calls the luck of some one else, you may be sure that he is a person entirely deficient in those qualities which could attract what he calls luck, but what is really, in the majority of cases, merely the result of hard work based upon a reasoned poise.
Poise: How to Attain It D. Starke
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