a lot

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a lot

many, a large number: There are a lot of pencils in the package.

Not to be confused with:

allot – distribute or parcel out; set apart: Allot no more than thirty percent of your income for rent.

lot

(lŏt)

1. a lot or lots Informal

a. A large extent, amount, or number: is in a lot of trouble; has lots of friends.

b. Used adverbially to mean "to a great degree or extent" or "frequently": felt a lot better; ran lots faster; doesn't go out a whole lot; has seen her lots lately.

c. A number of associated people or things: placating an angry lot of tenants; kids who were a noisy lot.

d. Miscellaneous articles sold as one unit: a lot of stamps sold at an auction.

e. An individual of a particular kind or type: That dog is a contented lot.

a. A piece of land having specific boundaries, especially one constituting a part of a city, town, or block.

b. A piece of land used for a given purpose: a parking lot.

c. The complete grounds of a film studio.

d. The outdoor area of a film studio.

a. An object used in making a determination or choice at random: casting lots to see who will go first.

b. The use of objects in making a determination or choice at random: chosen by lot.

c. The determination or choice so made: The lot fell on the widow's only son.

d. One's fortune in life; one's fate: It was her lot to struggle for years in obscurity.

tr.v. lot·ted, lot·ting, lots

1. To apportion by lots; allot.

2. To divide (land) into lots.

3. To divide (goods) into lots for sale.

[Middle English, from Old English hlot.]

Lot

(lŏt)

In the Bible, Abraham's nephew, whose wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back as they fled Sodom.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Adv.

a lot - to a very great degree or extent; "I feel a lot better"; "we enjoyed ourselves very much"; "she was very much interested"; "this would help a great deal"

a good deal, a great deal, lots, very much, much

Translations

كميّه كبيرَه أو عدد كبير

hromada

en massemangemeget

viel vielmals anders oft

πολύς

multeofte

mucho frecuentemente

hyvin paljonpaljonusein

beaucoup souvent

gyakransok

fjöldi, hellingur

bastante muita muitoum monte

изрядно много часто

mångaofta

许多

lot

(lot) noun

1. a person's fortune or fate. It seemed to be her lot to be always unlucky.

2. a separate part. She gave one lot of clothes to a jumble sale and threw another lot away.

3. one article or several, sold as a single item at an auction. Are you going to bid for lot 28?

lots noun plural

a large quantity or number. lots of people; She had lots and lots of food left over from the party.

a lot

a large quantity or number. What a lot of letters!

draw/cast lotsdraw

References in classic literature ?

Spects they's gwine to trade ye off with a lot o' cracked tea-pots and sich like!" said Sambo, with a provoking grin.

wrote to their lawyer in New Orleans, who attached the real estate (these two articles and a lot of plantation hands formed the most valuable part of it), and wrote word to that effect to New York.

View in context

Caverly was what the world of New York, in 1832, called poor; that is to say, he had no known bank-stock, did not own a lot on the island, was director of neither bank nor insurance company, and lived in a modest two-story house, in White street.

View in context

He's a lazy sort of chap, hates work, and I guess he only got the job because his uncle had got a lot of shares in the business.

View in context

When the swallows heard this, they all came down on to the Doctor's ship; and they told him to unravel some pieces of long rope and make them into a lot of thin strings as quickly as he could.

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You're one of a lot of impostors that are the worst lot of all the lots to be met with.

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He didn't sleep much, he was in such a sweat to get in there and find out the mystery about Phillips; and moreover he done a lot of guessing about it all night, which warn't no use, for if you are going to find out the facts of a thing, what's the sense in guessing out what ain't the facts and wasting ammunition?

View in context

"Oh, how pretty!--and what a lot of trees and grass all around it!

View in context

It was almost like a lot of boys scramblin' on the sidewalk for a handful of small change.