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lot

Pronunciation: /lɒt/
Translate lot | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of lot

pronoun

(a lot or lots) informal
  • a large number or amount; a great deal:there are a lot of actors in the cast they took a lot of abuse a lot can happen in eight months we had lots of fun
  • (the lot or the whole lot) the whole number or quantity that is involved or implied:you might as well take the whole lot

adverb

(a lot or lots) informal
  • a great deal; much:he played tennis a lot last year thanks a lot

noun

  • 1 [treated as singular or plural] informal a particular group or set of people or things:it’s just one lot of rich people stealing from another he will need a second lot of tills to handle the second currency
  • [with adjective] chiefly British a group of a specified kind (used in a derogatory or dismissive way):an inefficient lot, our Council
  • 2an item or set of items for sale at an auction:nineteen lots failed to sell
  • 3 [mass noun] the making of a decision by random selection, especially by a method involving the choice of one from a number of pieces of folded paper, one of which has a concealed mark:officers were elected rather than selected by lot
  • [in singular] the choice resulting from deciding something by lot:eventually the lot fell on the King’s daughter
  • 4 [in singular] a person’s luck, situation, or destiny in life:schemes to improve the lot of the disadvantaged
  • 5chiefly North American a plot of land assigned for sale or for a particular use:a vacant lot
  • short for parking lot.
  • an area of land near a film studio where outside filming may be done.
  • the area at a car dealership where cars for sale are kept.

verb (lots, lotting, lotted)

[with object]
  • divide (items) into lots for sale at an auction:the contents have already been lotted up, and the auction takes place on Monday

Phrases

all over the lot

US informal in a disorganized or confused state: the president has been all over the lot on this issue lately

a bad lot

British informal a dishonest person.

draw (or cast) lots

decide by lot:we drew lots to decide the order

fall to someone's lot

become someone’s task or responsibility: they accepted the burden of domestic responsibilities that fell to their lot

throw in one's lot with

decide to ally oneself closely with and share the fate of (a person or group): the bourgeoisie had thrown in its lot with the monarchy

Origin:

Old English hlot (noun), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch lot, German Los. The original meanings were lot (sense 3 of the noun) and (by extension) the sense 'a portion assigned to someone'; the latter gave rise to the other noun senses. The pronoun and adverb uses date from the early 19th century

1 The expressions a lot of and lots of are used before nouns to mean ‘a large number or amount of’. In common with other words denoting quantities, lot itself does not normally function as a head noun, meaning that it does not itself determine whether the following verb is singular or plural. Thus, although lot is singular in a lot of people, the verb which follows is not singular. In this case the word people acts as the head noun and, being plural, ensures that the following verb is also plural: a lot of people were assembled (not a lot of people was assembled). See also number (usage)2 A lot of and lots of are very common in speech and writing but they still have a distinctly informal feel and are generally not considered acceptable for formal English, where alternatives such as many or a large number are used instead.3 Written as one word alot is incorrect, although not uncommon.

lot in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of lot in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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