Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large extent, amount, or number.
  • noun Used adverbially to mean “to a great degree or extent” or “frequently”.
  • noun A number of associated people or things.
  • noun Miscellaneous articles sold as one unit.
  • noun An individual of a particular kind or type.
  • noun A piece of land having specific boundaries, especially one constituting a part of a city, town, or block.
  • noun A piece of land used for a given purpose.
  • noun The complete grounds of a film studio.
  • noun The outdoor area of a film studio.
  • noun An object used in making a determination or choice at random.
  • noun The use of objects in making a determination or choice at random.
  • noun The determination or choice so made.
  • noun One's fortune in life; one's fate.
  • transitive verb To apportion by lots; allot.
  • transitive verb To divide (land) into lots.
  • transitive verb To divide (goods) into lots for sale.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To allot; assign; distribute; award.
  • To cast lots.
  • noun An individual person: usually with bad.
  • noun A means of determining something by chance; anything (as dice, pieces of paper of different lengths or differently marked, so placed that these differences cannot be perceived) used to decide a choice, advantage, dispute, etc. See to cast lots, to draw lots, below.
  • noun That which is determined or assigned by lot; that which one gets by the drawing or casting of lots, or by some other fortuitous method; a chance allotment, share, or portion, as of land, money, service, etc.
  • noun Share or portion in life allotted in any casual way; station or condition determined by the chances of life; fortune; destiny: as, the lot of the poor.
  • noun Any distinct part or parcel; a portion or part separated from others of the same kind: as, a lot of goods; a lot of furniture. Specifically
  • noun A portion or parcel of land; any piece of land divided off or set apart for a particular use or purpose: as, a building-lot; a pasture-lot; all that lot, piece, or parcel of ground (a formula in legal instruments).
  • noun Proportion or share of taxes.
  • noun Tribute; toll.
  • noun In mining, dues to the lord of the manor for ingress and egress.
  • noun A large or considerable number or amount; a great deal: as, a lot of people: often used in the plural (and the plural even as an adverb, meaning ‘a great deal’): as, he has lots of money.
  • noun plural A game formerly played with roundels on which short verses were written: used as a singular.
  • noun The shoot of a tree.
  • noun Synonyms Hap, destiny, fate, doom, allotment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That which happens without human design or forethought; chance; accident; hazard; fortune; fate.
  • noun Anything (as a die, pebble, ball, or slip of paper) used in determining a question by chance, or without man's choice or will.
  • noun The part, or fate, which falls to one, as it were, by chance, or without his planning.
  • noun A separate portion; a number of things taken collectively; all objects sold in a single purchase transaction; ; -- colloquially, sometimes of people
  • noun A distinct portion or plot of land, usually smaller than a field.
  • noun colloq. A large quantity or number; a great deal
  • noun obsolete A prize in a lottery.
  • noun to share the fortunes of.
  • noun to use or throw a die, or some other instrument, by the unforeseen turn or position of which, an event is by previous agreement determined.
  • noun to determine an event, or make a decision, by drawing one thing from a number whose marks are concealed from the drawer.
  • noun to pay taxes according to one's ability. See Scot.
  • transitive verb rare To allot; to sort; to portion.
  • transitive verb [Colloq. U. S.] to count or reckon upon; to expect with pleasure.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A large quantity or number; a great deal.
  • noun A separate portion; a number of things taken collectively.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hlot.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English hlot ("portion, choice, decision"), from Proto-Germanic *hlutan. Cognate with Dutch lot, Old High German hluz.

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Examples

  • A lot of manufacturers and models mean a *lot* of people to please, especially if it keeps up this pace of gaining market share chris_j_wright48

    Android Phones Surpasse iPhone In Web Traffic | Lifehacker Australia 2010

  • If it helps them get a lot more traffic and sell a * lot* more product, a whole industry will spring up around just * helping* them use it.

    Google Base to Launch Michael Arrington 2005

  • As they start researching, the details of the picture come together for the reader, who wonders why the heck they don't get it a lot sooner and run away to Australia (as if that might make their lives any safer -- Max has a _lot_ of money and no ethics at all).

    Analog Science Fiction and Fact 2004

  • One reason I created this journal is because I've met a lot of people - and I mean a *lot* - of people who don't feel fulfilled with what Christianity, or whatever mainstream religion they're with, presents them with.

    18th September '03 2003

  • When there isn't a lot of organizational overhead to obtaining resources, app developers will -- surprise -- use more resources -- a * lot* more resources.

    Latest from Computerworld Bernard Golden 2010

  • When there isn't a lot of organizational overhead to obtaining resources, app developers will -- surprise -- use more resources -- a * lot* more resources.

    Latest from Computerworld Bernard Golden 2010

  • For users of a lot of data, time means money and USB2 costs us a * lot* more time!

    Medlogs - Recent stories 2009

  • Then Fabrice came to my house and we worked a lot, I mean * a lot*, together in exhausting but very exciting big work sessions.

    Twitch 2008

  • "[Y] ou're going to be hearing a lot from me over the next 9 weeks. our plan is to turn off basic authorization on the API by June 30, 2010 -- developers will have to switch over to OAuth by that time. between now and then, there will be a * lot* of information coming along with tips on how to use OAuth Echo, xAuth, etc. we really want to make this transition as easy as we can for everybody," Raffi Krikorian, from the Twitter Platform Team, wrote.

    Softpedia - Windows - All Lucian Parfeni 2010

  • "[Y] ou're going to be hearing a lot from me over the next 9 weeks. our plan is to turn off basic authorization on the API by June 30, 2010 -- developers will have to switch over to OAuth by that time. between now and then, there will be a * lot* of information coming along with tips on how to use OAuth Echo, xAuth, etc. we really want to make this transition as easy as we can for everybody," Raffi Krikorian, from the Twitter Platform Team, wrote.

    Softpedia - Windows - All Lucian Parfeni 2010

Comments

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  • I wonder why Lot gets the WeirdNet definition for Jew at #14, but some other obvious Biblical names don't (e.g. Joseph, Isaiah, David; Jesus does, though), and neither does rabbi. The mystery continues...

    ~WyrdNet - because it's our lot in life.~

    September 27, 2008