lottery

lottery
noun (plural -teries) Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle French loterie, from Middle Dutch, from lot lot; akin to Old English hlot lot Date: 1567 1. a. a drawing of lots in which prizes are distributed to the winners among persons buying a chance b. a drawing of lots used to decide something 2. an event or affair whose outcome is or seems to be determined by chance

New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.

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  • Lottery — ticket redirects here. For the film, see Lottery Ticket (film). For other uses, see Lottery (disambiguation). A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others… …   Wikipedia

  • Lottery! — was an ABC television series that premiered on September 9, 1983, and aired for one season of 17 episodes. The episodes centered around ordinary people who have won the lottery all of a sudden becoming millionaires and how it changes their lives …   Wikipedia

  • lottery — lot‧te‧ry [ˈlɒtəri ǁ ˈlɑː ] noun lotteries PLURALFORM 1. [countable] a game of chance in which people buy tickets with numbers on and some people win prizes. Lotteries are often used to raise money for the government or for a charity: • The… …   Financial and business terms

  • Lottery — • A lottery is one of the aleatory contracts and is commonly defined as a distribution of prizes by lot or by chance Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Lottery     Lottery      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • lottery — noun allotment by chance, bet, chance, draw, drawing, gamble, game of chance, lot, raffle, sors, sortitio, sweepstake, wager Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 lottery …   Law dictionary

  • lottery — [lät′ər ē] n. pl. lotteries [MFr loterie < MDu loterije < lot, LOT] 1. a game of chance in which people buy numbered tickets, and prizes are given to those whose numbers are drawn by lot: sometimes sponsored by a state or organization as a… …   English World dictionary

  • Lottery — Lot ter*y, n.; pl. {Lotteries}. [Lot + ery, as in brewery, bindery.] 1. 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • lottery — paradox …   Philosophy dictionary

  • lottery — 1560s, arrangement for a distribution of prizes by chance, from It. lotteria, from lotto lot, portion, share, from same root as O.E. hlot (see LOT (Cf. lot)). Cf. M.Fr. loterie, from M.Du. loterje, from lot (n.) …   Etymology dictionary

  • lottery — [n] drawing chance, door prize, gambling, game of chance, Lotto, luck of the draw, numbers game, raffle, sweepstake; concepts 28,363 …   New thesaurus

  • lottery — ► NOUN (pl. lotteries) 1) a means of raising money by selling numbered tickets and giving prizes to the holders of numbers drawn at random. 2) something whose success is governed by chance. ORIGIN probably from Dutch loterij, from lot lot …   English terms dictionary

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