fluke

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various flatfishes, especially a flounder of the genus Paralichthys.
2. n. See trematode.
3. n. Nautical The triangular blade at the end of an arm of an anchor, designed to catch in the ground.
4. n. A barb or barbed head, as on an arrow or a harpoon.
5. n. Either of the two horizontally flattened divisions of the tail of a whale.
6. n. A stroke of good luck.
7. n. A chance occurrence; an accident.
8. n. Games An accidentally good or successful stroke in billiards or pool.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The part of an anchor which catches in the ground. See anchor.
2. n. One of the barbs of a harpoon or toggle-iron; a flue: called by English whalemen wither.
3. n. Either half of the tail of a cetacean or sirenian: so called from its resemblance to the fluke of an anchor. The flukes of a large whale may be sometimes 20 feet between their extremities, though 12 to 15 feet is a more frequent measurement.
4. n. In mining, an instrument used to clean a hole previous to charging it with powder for blasting.
5. n. [⟨ fluke, verb] In billiards, an accidentally successful stroke; the advantage gained when, playing for one thing, one gets another; hence, any unexpected or accidental advantage or turn; a chance; a scratch.
6. n. Hence— To become refractory or mutinous; make a disturbance on board ship.
7. n. Hence— To go to bed; bunk or turn in.
8. In whaling: To disable the flukes of, as a whale, by spading.
9. To fasten, as a whale, by means of a chain or rope.
10. In whaling, to use the flukes, as a fish or cetacean: often with an indefinite it.
11. To gain an advantage over a competitor or opponent by accident or chance; especially, to make a scratch in billiards. See fluke, n., 5.
12. n. A name given locally in Great Britain to species of flatfish. In Northumberland, the common flounder, Pleuronectes flesus, called in Moray Frith fresh-water fleuk and bigger fleuk.
13. n. A trematoid worm; an entozoic parasitic worm of the order Trematoidea, infesting various parts of man and other animals, especially the liver, bile-ducts, etc.: so called from the resemblance of its hydatid to a fluke or flounder. There are numerous species, of several genera. The common fluke is Fasciola hepatica; the liver-fluke is Distoma hepaticum; the lancet-shaped fluke is D. lanceolatum; the broad fluke of China is D. crassum; the fluke infesting the blood is D. hæmatobium; the Egyptian fluke is D. heterophyes or Heterophyes ægyptiaca. Also called fluke-worm. See cuts under cercaria and Trematoda.
14. n. Waste cotton.
15. n. A lock of hair.
16. n. A result of accident or lucky chance rather than of skill.
17. n. A failure, as of a yacht-race for lack of wind.
18. In shooting, to hit by a chance shot.

Wiktionary

1. n. A flounder.
2. n. A trematode; a parasitic flatworm of the Trematoda class, related to the tapeworm.
3. n. A lucky or improbable occurrence, with the implication that the occurrence could not be repeated.
4. v. To obtain a successful outcome by pure chance.
5. v. snooker To fortuitously pot a ball in an unintended way.
6. n. Either of the two lobes of a whale's or similar creature's tail.
7. n. nautical Any of the triangular blades at the end of an anchor, designed to catch the ground.
8. n. A metal hook on the head of certain staff weapons (such as a bill), made in various forms depending on function, whether used for grappling or to penetrate armour when swung at an opponent.
9. n. In general, a winglike formation on a central piece.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) The European flounder. See flounder.
2. n. (Zoöl.) Any American flounder of the genus Paralichthys, especially Paralicthys dentatus, found in the Atlantic Ocean and in adjacent bays.
3. n. (Zoöl.) A parasitic trematode worm of several species, having a flat, lanceolate body and two suckers. Two species (Fasciola hepatica and Distoma lanceolatum) are found in the livers of sheep, and produce the disease called rot.
4. n. The part of an anchor which fastens in the ground; a flook. See anchor.
5. n. (Zoöl.) One of the lobes of a whale's tail, so called from the resemblance to the fluke of an anchor.
6. n. An instrument for cleaning out a hole drilled in stone for blasting.
7. n. Cant, Eng. An accidental and favorable stroke at billiards (called a scratch in the United States); hence, any accidental or unexpected advantage.
8. v. Slang To get or score by a fluke.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a stroke of luck
2. n. a barb on a harpoon or arrow
3. n. either of the two lobes of the tail of a cetacean
4. n. flat bladelike projection on the arm of an anchor
5. n. parasitic flatworms having external suckers for attaching to a host