Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A contest in which tokens are distributed or sold, the winning token or tokens being secretly predetermined or ultimately selected in a random drawing.
- noun A selection made by lot from a number of applicants or competitors.
- noun An activity or event regarded as having an outcome depending on fate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Distribution of anything by lot; allotment; also, the drawing of lots; determination by chance or fate; random choice; matter of chance: as, the lottery of life.
- noun A scheme for raising money by selling chances to share in a distribution of prizes; more specifically, a scheme for the distribution of prizes by chance among persons purchasing tickets, the correspondingly numbered slips, or lots, representing prizes or blanks, being drawn from a wheel on a day previously announced in connection with the scheme of intended prizes.
- noun The lot or portion falling to one's share; a chance allotment or prize.
- noun A children's picture or print.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Fig. A scheme for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance; esp., a gaming scheme in which one or more tickets bearing particular numbers draw prizes, and the rest of the tickets are blanks.
- noun obsolete Allotment; thing allotted.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A scheme for the distribution of prizes by lot or
chance , especially agaming scheme in which one or more tickets bearing particular numbers draw prizes, the other tickets are blanks. - noun figuratively An affair of chance.
- noun obsolete, Shakespeare
Allotment ; a thing allotted.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun players buy (or are given) chances and prizes are distributed by casting lots
- noun something that is regarded as a chance event
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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_generous_ -- not to say _brave_ -- opponents betook themselves to the county of Anderson, in this Judicial Circuit, and with great difficulty got up an indictment against us, under an old statute, forgotten by gentlemen of the bar, for _advertising a Baltimore lottery scheme_; when they themselves, and their relatives, were dealing in the _Art Union lottery_ in this city!
Americanism Contrasted with Foreignism, Romanism, and Bogus Democracy in the Light of Reason, History, and Scripture; In which Certain Demagogues in Tennessee, and Elsewhere, are Shown Up in Their True Colors William Gannaway Brownlow 1841
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But like Dunleavy, a spot in lottery is waiting for him.
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I understand the lottery is aimed at people who want to win money and those who are well off already are unlikely to play.
Tim Kaine- Stop This 2008
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You think the lottery is a shell game you should investigate social security, medicare, medicade. .etc..etc ..
Tim Kaine- Stop This 2008
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A walk that took me right past the deli with the sign telling me that the lottery is at $340million.
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Oh, and for perspective, the lottery is a game of chance in which you wage a dollar per guess to see if your numbers are then drawn which would then cause you to “win” some money.
Think Progress » Friedman Defends Repeated Prediction That ‘The Next Six Months Are Crucial’ In Iraq 2006
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It has been said that the lottery is a tax on the mathematically-disinclined.
So Explain It To Me Again daghain 2003
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The father of the family tried to buy $100 in lottery tickets with the credit.
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The father of the family tried to buy $100 in lottery tickets with the credit.
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The film opens with a quote from Geoffrey Canada, the CEO of Harlem Children's Zone (one of the programs whose lottery is featured in the film).
Susan Deily-Swearingen: Superman Revealed Susan Deily-Swearingen 2010
oroboros commented on the word lottery
Buy your lottery tickets on a Friday! If you buy your ticket earlier than Friday, your chance of winning the lottery the following Saturday is lower than your chance of being run over by a car before you're able to claim your prize! The chance of winning the California lottery in any given week is roughly 1 in 18,000,000 and the chance of being run over by a car in that state during a 24-hour period is roughly the same.
--Why Do Buses Come in Threes? by Eastaway and Wyndham
January 11, 2008
reesetee commented on the word lottery
*facepalm*
January 11, 2008
bilby commented on the word lottery
Oi, excellent comment here by the Big O.
May 31, 2016