Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune: They met one day out of pure luck.
- n. Good fortune or prosperity; success: We wish you luck.
- n. One's personal fate or lot: It was just my luck to win a trip I couldn't take.
- v. Informal To gain success or something desirable by chance: lucked into a good apartment; lucked out in finding that rare book.
- idiom. as luck would have it As it turned out; as it happened: As luck would have it, it rained the day of the picnic.
- idiom. in luck Enjoying success; fortunate.
- idiom. out of luck Lacking good fortune.
- idiom. press To risk one's good fortune, often by acting overconfidently.
- idiom. try (one's) luck To attempt something without knowing if one will be successful.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Fortune; hap; that which happens to a person by chance, conceived as having a real tendency to be favorable or unfavorable, or as if there were an inward connection between a succes sion of fortuitous occurrences having the same character as favorable or unfavorable. Thus, gamesters say that one ought to continue to play while the luck is in one's favor and leave off when the luck turns against one.
- n. Good fortune; favorable hap; a supposed something, pertaining to a person, at least for a time, giving to fortuitous events a favorable character; also, in a weakened sense, a fortuitous combination of favorable occurrences.
- n. An object with which good fortune is thought to be connected; especially, a vessel for holding liquid, as a drinking-cup. There are several such vessels surviving in England, as the Luck of Edenhall, preserved in a manor-house in the county of Cumberland.
- n. Synonyms See happy.
- To be lucky.
- To make lucky.
- n. A lock of wool twisted on the finger of a spinner.
Wiktionary
- n. Something that happens to someone by chance, a chance occurrence.
- n. A superstitious feeling that brings fortune or success.
- n. success
- v. intransitive To succeed by chance.
- v. intransitive To rely on luck.
- v. transitive To carry out relying on luck.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, affecting one's interests or happiness, and which is deemed casual; a course or series of such events regarded as occurring by chance; chance; hap; fate; fortune; often, one's habitual or characteristic fortune.
Luck is often used by itself to meangood luck .
WordNet 3.0
- n. your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you)
- n. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
- n. an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that leads to a favorable outcome
Etymologies
- From Middle English luk, lukke, related to Old Frisian luk ("luck"), West Frisian gelok ("luck"), Dutch geluk ("luck"), Low German luk ("luck"), German Glück ("luck, good fortune, happiness"), Danish lykke ("luck"), Swedish lycka ("luck"), Icelandic lukka ("luck"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English lucke, from Middle Dutch luc, short for gheluc. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“While the romantic side of me would like to believe in "luck" - the karmic, cosmic smiling-upon-me type of luck, the scientific side of me completely agrees with Lena West.”
“And then, turning to leave him, 'An' will ye say a mass if the luck is against me? ”
“Well, your luck is about to change with a little assistance from Lavish Lifestyles, LLC.”
A Luxury Personal Concierge Taking Personalized Service to the Next Level
“MAATHAI: They say that what we call luck is opportunity that meets preparedness.”
“I sometimes wonder if what we call luck is merely the will of God, " Otero observed sadly, -and that therefore Cochrane has been sent to scourge Spain for a reason.”
Sharpe's Devil
“Whenever you hear any one expatiating upon what he calls the luck of some one else, you may be sure that he is a person entirely deficient in those qualities which could attract what he calls luck, but what is really, in the majority of cases, merely the result of hard work based upon a reasoned poise.”
“Well, this is what I call luck!" exclaimed Ferd Stowing.”
Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island The Mystery of the Wreck
“Well, this is what I call luck -- pure, unadulterated luck, with sugar on it," drawled Ham as he surveyed the house.”
“Ephraim, my son!" said the old gambler, with a cunning smile, "I'll tell you something -- There are persons whose whole powers are devoted to one object -- how to win a fortune; in the same way as there are some who study to become doctors, and the like, so these study what we call luck ... and from them I've learned it.”
“This is certainly what I call luck," cried Allen excitedly, as he gazed at the scrap of paper Levine had passed over.”
The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle Or, The Girl Miner of Gold Run
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘luck’.
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happenstance
happenstance
newton, oops, klutz, chance meeting, fluke, fortuity, happenchance, eureka, happenstance, ka, kismet, serendipitous and 11 more...
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charms
all sorts of ...fortune, gnome, green, chance, luck, gheluc, success, good, spells, hypnotic, prosperity, blessing and 38 more...
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broken
unable, to, complete, request, sorry, something, has, gone, terribly, wrong, When, the and 35 more...
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eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
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Chainlink's Words
hat, opalescent, opal, emerald, sapphire, scythe, carnival, calliope, brilliant, awesome, feather, fantastic and 268 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
a, abandon, ability, able, abortion, about, above, abroad, absence, absolute, absolutely, absorb and 4334 more...
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savage215's Words
pipe, yankee, knickerbocker, tennis, plasma, magma, volcano, car, truck, television, tv, word and 445 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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fbharjo's Words
jumelle, kef, kenspeckle, lautitious, essentic, pilpulistic, impavid, cicurant, clou, chrysostomic, miasma, teleology and 1625 more...
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the hotlist
short, sweet, epic, catchy, sassy, sexy & sizzling.
( personal list, randomness )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/...zing, epic, win, fail, hot, warp, times, clip, onyx, wonky, pwn, leet and 1493 more...
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cast a spell
amulet, charm, magic, conjuror, Prospero, candle, cure, flame, hierophant, tarot, cast, cauldron and 20 more...
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jamesonandwater's Words
reckon, bloody, press, irritated, seventh, luck, supporters, thug, possession, offside, zenith
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MEC4 Lesson 156
accompany, process, high gear, trip, veritable, float, port, motorboat, hydroplane, on board, exhilarating, caress and 48 more...
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lesson 7
beseech, consternation, delectable, garland, gratify, haughty, impertous, lavish, luck, ponder, privilege, prostrate and 3 more...
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OM2 Lesson 14
watch out, truck, hit, both, close, comfort, too close for com..., miss, near miss, sad, break up, concerned and 15 more...
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luck
Much of my life has had healthy doses of this, so I pay homage.
serendipity, fortune, fortuitous, luck, chance, serendipitous, propitious, auspicious, auspice, fortuna, tyche, sibyl and 1 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for luck.
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