What is "lot"

Lot \Lot\ (l[o^]t), n. [AS. hlot; akin to hle['o]tan to cast lots, OS. hl[=o]t lot, D. lot, G. loos, OHG. l[=o]z, Icel. hlutr, Sw. lott, Dan. lod, Goth. hlauts. Cf. Allot, Lotto, Lottery.]

1. That which happens without human design or forethought; chance; accident; hazard; fortune; fate.

   But save my life, which lot before your foot doth lay.
   --Spenser.

2. Anything (as a die, pebble, ball, or slip of paper) used in determining a question by chance, or without man's choice or will; as, to cast or draw lots.

   The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.
   --Prov. xvi. 3

3. If we draw lots, he speeds.
   --Shak.

   3. The part, or fate, which falls to one, as it were, by chance, or without his planning.

   O visions ill foreseen! Each day's lot's Enough to bear.
   --Milton.

   He was but born to try The lot of man -- to suffer and to die.
   --Pope.

4. A separate portion; a number of things taken collectively; all objects sold in a single purchase transaction; as, a lot of stationery; -- colloquially, sometimes of people; as, a sorry lot; a bad lot.

   I, this winter, met with a very large lot of English heads, chiefly of the reign of James I.
   --Walpole.

5. A distinct portion or plot of land, usually smaller than a field; as, a building lot in a city.

   The defendants leased a house and lot in the city of New York.
   --Kent.

6. A large quantity or number; a great deal; as, to spend a lot of money; to waste a lot of time on line; lots of people think so. [Colloq.]

   He wrote to her . . . he might be detained in London by a lot of business.
   --W. Black.

7. A prize in a lottery. [Obs.]
   --Evelyn.

   To cast in one's lot with, to share the fortunes of.

   To cast lots, 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.

   To draw lots, to determine an event, or make a decision, by drawing one thing from a number whose marks are concealed from the drawer.

   To pay scot and lot, to pay taxes according to one's ability. See Scot.

Lot \Lot\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Lotted; p. pr. & vb. n. Lotting.] To allot; to sort; to portion. [R.]

To lot on or To lot upon, to count or reckon upon; to expect with pleasure. [Colloq. U. S.]

Old English hlot "object (anything from dice to straw, but often a chip of wood with a name inscribed on it) used to determine someone's share," also "what falls to a person by lot," from Proto-Germanic *khlutom (cognates: Old Norse hlutr "lot, share," Old Frisian hlot "lot," Old Saxon hlot, Middle Dutch, Dutch lot, Old High German hluz "share of land," German Los; Old English hleotan "to cast lots, to foretell"), of unknown origin. The object was placed with others in a receptacle, which was shaken, the winner being the one that fell out first. Hence, to cast lots. In some cases the lots were drawn by hand. The word was adopted from Germanic into the Romanic languages (compare lottery, lotto). Meaning "choice resulting from the casting of lots" first attested c.1200.\n

\nSense of "plot of land" is first recorded 1630s (distribution of the best property in new settlements often determined by casting lots), that of "group, collection" is 1725, from notion of auction lots. The generalized sense of "great many" is first attested in 1812. To cast (one's) lot with another is to agree to share winnings.

n. A large quantity or number; a great deal. vb. 1 (context transitive dated English) To allot; to sort; to apportion. 2 (context US informal dated English) To count on or reckon on (''on'' or ''upon'').

1. n. (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost plenty" [syn: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, mass, mess, mickle, mint, muckle, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad, whole lot, whole slew]

2. a parcel of land having fixed boundaries; "he bought a lot on the lake"

3. your overall circumstances or condition in life (including everything that happens to you); "whatever my fortune may be"; "deserved a better fate"; "has a happy lot"; "the luck of the Irish"; "a victim of circumstances"; "success that was her portion" [syn: fortune, destiny, fate, luck, circumstances, portion]

4. any collection in its entirety; "she bought the whole caboodle" [syn: bunch, caboodle]

5. an unofficial association of people or groups; "the smart set goes there"; "they were an angry lot" [syn: set, circle, band]

6. anything (straws or pebbles etc.) taken or chosen at random; "the luck of the draw"; "they drew lots for it" [syn: draw]

7. (Old Testament) nephew of Abraham; God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah but chose to spare Lot and his family who were told to flee without looking back at the destruction

8. [also: lotting, lotted]

1. v. divide into lots, as of land, for example

2. administer or bestow, as in small portions; "administer critical remarks to everyone present"; "dole out some money"; "shell out pocket money for the children"; "deal a blow to someone" [syn: distribute, administer, mete out, deal, parcel out, dispense, shell out, deal out, dish out, allot, dole out]

3. [also: lotting, lotted]

Lot (; ) is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot River.

Lot or lots may refer to:

• Lot (unit), a unit of mass
• Land lot, an area of land
• Parking lot, for automobiles
• Lot number, in batch production
• Backlot, in movie production
• Sortition (drawing lots)
  • Cleromancy, divination by casting lots
• Lot, a set of goods for sale together in an auction; or a quantity of a financial instrument
• "Lot", a story by Ward Moore
• Arabian lots, or Arabic parts, an astrological divination technique

LOT may refer to:

• LOT Polish Airlines, the flag carrier airline for Poland
• Lewis University Airport, Illinois, United States
• Language of thought, a philosophical hypothesis
• The LOT Network Solution, a membership organization to avoid patent litigation

LOTS may refer to:

• London Omnibus Traction Society, a bus society
• Legend of the Seeker, a television series based on novels in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind

Lot (; ) was a patriarch in the biblical Book of Genesis chapters 11–14 and 19. Notable episodes in his life include his travels with his uncle Abram ( Abraham), his flight from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, during which Lot's wife became a pillar of salt, and the seduction by his daughters so that they could bear children.

The Lot, , originally the Olt (; ), is a river in France. It is a right tributary of the Garonne. It rises in the Cévennes, flowing west through Quercy, where it flows into the Garonne near Aiguillon, a total distance of . It gives its name to the department of Lot.

The Lot is prone to flooding in the winter and spring.

A lot is an old unit of weight used in many European countries since the Middle Ages until the beginning of the 20th century. Most often it was defined as either or of a pound (or more precisely of whatever mass value one local pound had at the time). Recorded values range from 10 to 50 grams.