lot
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: lŏt
ipa: /lɒt/
ipa: /lɔt/
note: in Canada
ipa: /lɑt/
note: in the US
ipa: /lɒt/
ipa: /lɔt/
ipa: /lɔt/
ipa: /lɒt/
ipa: /lɔ̟t/
rhymes: -ɒt
Forms: form: lots
Etymology: From Middle English lot, from Old English hlot (“portion, choice, decision”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlut, from Proto-Germanic *hlutą.
Cognate with North Frisian lod, Saterland Frisian Lot, West Frisian lot, Dutch lot, French lot, German Low German Lott, Middle High German luz. Doublet of lotto. Related also to German Los.
Senses: examples: text: win the whole lot (of money); i.e. jackpot
text: lots of people think so
text: He wrote to her […] he might be detained in London by a lot of business.
ref: 1877, William Black, Green Pastures and Piccadilly, volume 2, page 4:
text: I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 52:
synonyms: load
mass
pile
glosses: A large quantity or number; a great deal.
examples: text: a lot of stationery
text: The Lord divided the land to the tribes, each according to his lot.
synonyms: batch
collection
group
set
glosses: A separate, appropriated portion; a quantized, subdivided set consisting a whole.
glosses: One or more items auctioned or sold as a unit, separate from other items.
examples: text: a sorry lot
text: a bad lot
text: you lot
synonyms: crowd
gang
group
glosses: A number of people taken collectively.
examples: text: a building lot in a city
text: The defendants leased a house and lot, in the City of New-York
ref: 1820, James Kent, edited by William Johnson, Reports of cases adjudged in the Court of Chancery of New-York, volume 5, published 1822:
synonyms: allotment
parcel
plot
glosses: A distinct portion or plot of land, usually smaller than a field.
examples: text: But save my life, which lot before your foot doth lay.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book), Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 1:
synonyms: word: chance
word: accident
word: destiny
word: fate
word: fortune
word: chance
word: destin
word: destiny
word: doom
word: fatality
word: fate
word: foredoom
word: foreordination
word: fortune
word: kismet
word: lot
word: orlay
word: portion
word: predestination
word: predestiny
word: preordination
word: qadar
word: weird
word: wyrd
glosses: That which happens without human design or forethought.
examples: text: to cast lots
text: to draw lots
text: The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 16:33:
text: If we draw lots, he speeds.
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
glosses: Anything (as a die, pebble, ball, or slip of paper) used in determining a question by chance, or without human choice or will.
examples: text: O visions ill foreseen! Each day's lot's / Enough to bear.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book XI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
text: He was but born to try / The lot of man — to suffer and to die.
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book III”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
text: […] as Jones alone was discovered, the poor lad bore not only the whole smart, but the whole blame; both which fell again to his lot on the following occasion.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III:
text: We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life.
ref: 1977, C-3PO, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope:
glosses: The part, or fate, that falls to one, as it were, by chance, or without one's planning.
examples: text: In the lottery[…] Sir R. Haddock one of the Commissrs of the Navy had the greatest lot, £3000 ; my coachman £ 40
ref: 1694 November 22 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for November 12 1694]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:
synonyms: prize
glosses: A prize in a lottery.
examples: text: Archons served only for one year and, since 487/6, they were chosen by lot. Generals, on the other hand, were chosen by direct election and could be reelected without limit.
ref: 1990: Donald Kagan, Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy, chapter 2: “Politician”, page 40 (Guild Publishing; CN 2239)
glosses: Allotment; lottery.
examples: text: The table was loaded with food, but by evening there was nothing but crumbs; we had eaten the lot.
text: If I were in charge, I'd fire the lot of them.
qualifier: the lot
glosses: All members of a set; everything.
glosses: An old unit of weight used in many European countries from the Middle Ages, often defined as 1/30 or 1/32 of a (local) pound.
Synonyms: word: abundance
word: arseload
word: assload
word: bellyload
word: boatload
word: brimful
word: busload
word: bucketful
word: bucketload
word: butt-ton
word: bumload
word: buttload
word: cartload
word: crapload
word: deal
word: fuckload
word: fuckton
word: fuckwad
word: great deal
word: hantle
word: heap
word: hecatomb
word: helluvalot
word: horseload
word: lashings
word: load
word: lot
word: mampus
word: many
word: mass
word: metric fuckton
word: metric shitload
word: mickle
word: mountain
word: muckle
word: multiplicity
word: multitude
word: pile
word: ream
word: shedload
word: shitful
word: shitload
word: shitton
word: slew
word: spadeloads
word: sum
word: superflux
word: ton
word: trainload
word: truckload
word: tun
word: vaultful
word: wagonload
Hypernyms: word: quantity
Hyponyms: word: bunch
word: bundle
word: gallon
word: host
word: megabucks
word: mint
word: motherload
word: sheets
word: million
word: billion
word: trillion
word: quintillion
word: gazillion
word: zillion
Derived terms: across lots
all over the lot
a lot
a lot of bit
backlot
bad lot
board lot
car lot
carlot
cast in one's lot with
cast one's lot with
cellphone lot
cell phone lot
cowlot
crook in the lot
cross lots
distribution lot
do a lot of work
draw lots
drop lot
fall to someone's lot
fat lot
fat lot of good
feedlot
flag lot
glass parking lot
have a lot of time
have a lot of time for
helluvalot
home lot
interlot
it takes a lot of living to make a house a home
job lot
leave a lot to be desired
lot-cloth split
lotful
lotholder
lotless
lot lizard
lot mead
lot number
lottery
microlot
multilot
odd lot
parking lot
playlot
round lot
sandlot
scot and lot
seedlot
sidelot
sublot
tax lot
thanks a lot
that's your lot
throw in one's lot with
tick a lot of boxes
tot lot
vacant lot
water lot
wood lot
you lot
Related terms: word: a damn sight
word: buckets
word: cloud
word: countless
word: dozen
word: horde
word: legion
word: manifold
word: myriad
word: oodles
word: scads
word: a thing or two