Lottery
['lɒt(ə)rɪ] or ['lɑtəri]
Definition
(noun.) players buy (or are given) chances and prizes are distributed by casting lots.
(noun.) something that is regarded as a chance event; 'the election was just a lottery to them'.
Edited by Henry--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) 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 tickets are blanks. Fig. : An affair of chance.
(n.) Allotment; thing allotted.
Inputed by Elisabeth
Definition
n. a distribution of prizes by lot or chance: a game of chance.
Typed by Ina
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of a lottery, and that you are taking great interest in the drawing, you will engage in some worthless enterprise, which will cause you to make an unpropitious journey. If you hold the lucky number, you will gain in a speculation which will perplex and give you much anxiety. To see others winning in a lottery, denotes convivialities and amusements, bringing many friends together. If you lose in a lottery, you will be the victim of designing persons. Gloomy depressions in your affairs will result. For a young woman to dream of a lottery in any way, denotes that her careless way of doing things will bring her disappointment, and a husband who will not be altogether reliable or constant. To dream of a lottery, denotes you will have unfavorable friendships in business. Your love affairs will produce temporary pleasure.
Typed by Jennifer
Examples
- So afflicted to find that his friend has drawn a prize in the lottery of Sainte Guillotine? Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- The lottery of the sea is not altogether so disadvantageous as that of the army. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Italy has achieved the dearest wish of her heart and become an independent State--and in so doing she has drawn an elephant in the political lottery. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- He tried to be a wine-merchant, a coal-merchant, a commission lottery agent, &c. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- In England, and in all Roman catholic countries, the lottery of the church is in reality much more advantageous than is necessary. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- There were a hundred million tickets in HIS lottery, and there was only one prize; the chances had been too decidedly against him. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- In a perfectly fair lottery, those who draw the prizes ought to gain all that is lost by those who draw the blanks. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- As the great prizes in the lottery are less, the smaller ones must be more numerous. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But the business was fortunately small at the outset, until the new device, patronized chiefly by lottery-men, had proved its utility. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- That the chance of gain is naturally overvalued, we may learn from the universal success of lotteries. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Typed by Connie