lottery

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A game in which people buy numbered tickets and win prizes if their numbers are chosen by chance.

   Dave plays the lottery almost every week.

2. 2
   noun

   Something whose result depends on luck rather than skill.

   Getting a good table at that restaurant is a bit of a lottery.

Borrowed from Italian lotteria, from the same root as Old English hlot (cognate with English lot). Compare French loterie (from Middle Dutch loterie). By surface analysis, lot + -ery.

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