mulligan

Meaning

Noun

• Mulligan stew.
• An unpenalized chance to re-take a stroke that went awry.
• An opportunity (sometimes penalized) for a player to reshuffle their cards and draw a new initial hand at the beginning of a game.
• A second chance.

Origin

• Attested since the 1930s in the sense “chance to re-take a golf stroke”; probably from the name Mulligan, after a golfer who replayed a stroke. See Wikipedia for more information.