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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Lottery \Lot"ter*y\, noun; 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 tickets are blanks. Fig.: An affair of chance.
Note: The laws of the United States and of most of the States make private lotteries illegal, except in certain circumstances for charitable institutions; however, many of the states now conduct lotteries tehmselves as a revenue source. [1913 Webster +PJC]
2. Allotment; thing allotted. [Obs.] --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
lottery
noun
1: something that is regarded as a chance event; "the election was just a lottery to them"
2: players buy (or are given) chances and prizes are distributed according to the drawing of lots [syn: {drawing}]
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |