lot

Meanings

Noun

• A large quantity or number; a great deal.
• A separate portion; a number of things taken collectively.
• One or more items auctioned or sold as a unit, separate from other items.
• A number of people taken collectively.
• A distinct portion or plot of land, usually smaller than a field.
• That which happens without human design or forethought.
• Anything (as a die, pebble, ball, or slip of paper) used in determining a question by chance, or without human choice or will.
• The part, or fate, that falls to one, as it were, by chance, or without his planning.
• A prize in a lottery.
• Allotment; lottery.
• All members of a set; everything.
• 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.

Verb

• To allot; to sort; to apportion.
• To count or reckon (on or upon).

Origin

• From Middle English lot, from Old English hlot, 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. lotto. Related also to German Los.