THIS SMALL WORD
REALLY SAYS A LOT
COMPILATION AND
COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
MARCH 19, 2020
IF YOU THINK
BACK TO YOUR EARLIEST ENGLISH COMPOSITION CLASSES, YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT
TEACHERS TRY TO ELIMINATE PHRASES WHICH ARE IMPRECISE TO THE POINT OF BEING
NEARLY USELESS. THE WAY WE USE THE WORD “LOT” IS ONE OF THOSE. DAILY WHEN I’M
DOING THESE BLOGS, I HAVE TO GO OVER THEM TO CLIP OUT THE KIND OF THING WHICH
WE VERY OFTEN SAY BUT KNOW BETTER THAN TO WRITE, OR WHICH ARE SUCH AN HABITUAL
WAY OF SPEAKING THAT THEY BECOME REPETITIVE WITHIN THE SAME PIECE OF WRITING. “A
LOT” IS IN THAT CLASS FOR ME. AS I WAS MAKING ONE OF THOSE CORRECTIONS TONIGHT,
I THOUGHT ABOUT THE FACT THAT I’VE NEVER SEEN A DEFINITION OF THE WORD LOT. “AN
INDETERMINATE BUT LARGE QUANTITY” IS WHAT WE USUALLY MEAN WHEN WE SAY “LOTS.”
IT WILL VERY LIKELY BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SHRUG. TO FILL IN THAT GAP IN MY
KNOWLEDGE, I SEARCHED IT TONIGHT AND FOUND REALLY A LOT OF OTHER INFO ON
THE SUBJECT.
lot noun (1)
\ ˈlät \
Definition of
lot
(Entry 1 of 4)
(Entry 1 of 4)
1: an object
used as a counter in determining a question by chance [SEE CLEROMANCY, BELOW.]
2a: the use of
lots as a means of deciding something
One was chosen
by lot to represent the group.
b: the
resulting choice
3a: something
that comes to one upon whom a lot has fallen : SHARE
The will
provided for equal lots for all the children.
b: one's way of
life or worldly fate : FORTUNE
the lot of man,
to suffer and to die
— Alexander
Pope
4a: a portion
of land
b: a measured
parcel of land having fixed boundaries and designated on a plot or survey
built his home
on a half-acre lot
c: a
motion-picture studio and its adjoining property
d: an
establishment for the storage or sale of motor vehicles
a used car lot
5a: a number of
units of an article, a single article, or a parcel of articles offered as one
item (as in an auction sale)
Lot 45 is a
dining room set.
b: all the
members of a present group, kind, or quantity —usually used with the
sampled the
whole lot of desserts
6a: a number of
associated persons : SET
fell in with a
rough lot
b: KIND, SORT
The recruits
were a sorry lot.
7: a
considerable quantity or extent
a lot of money
lots of friends
all over the
lot
: covering a
wide or varied range
received bids
all over the lot
a lot
1: to a considerable degree or extent
1: to a considerable degree or extent
this is a lot
nicer
2: OFTEN,
FREQUENTLY
runs a lot
every day
3: LOTS
lot verb
lotted; lotting
Definition of
lot (Entry 2 of 4)
transitive verb
1: ALLOT,
APPORTION
2: to form or
divide into lots
Lot noun (2)
\ ˈlät \
Definition of
Lot (Entry 3 of 4)
: a nephew of
Abraham who according to the account in Genesis escaped from the doomed city of
Sodom with his wife who turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back
Lot
geographical name
\ ˈlät , ˈlȯt \
Definition of
Lot (Entry 4 of 4)
river 300 miles
(483 kilometers) long in southern France flowing west into the Garonne River
Synonyms: Noun
(1)
parcel, plat,
plot, property, tract
Synonyms: Verb
allocate, allot,
allow, apportion, assign, distribute, ration
Visit the
Thesaurus for More
Choose the Right Synonym for lot
Noun (1)
FATE, DESTINY,
LOT, PORTION, DOOM mean a predetermined state or end. FATE implies an
inevitable and usually an adverse outcome.
the fate of the submarine is unknown
DESTINY implies something foreordained and often suggests a great or
noble course or end. the country's
destiny to be a model of liberty to the world
LOT and PORTION imply a distribution by fate or destiny, LOT suggesting
blind chance it was her lot to die
childless , PORTION implying the
apportioning of good and evil. remorse
was his daily portion DOOM distinctly implies a grim or calamitous fate. if the rebellion fails, his doom is certain
Examples of lot
in a Sentence
Noun (1)
He bought the vacant lot across the street.
They own the house on the corner lot.
First Known Use
of lot
Noun (1)
before the 12th
century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb
15th century,
in the meaning defined at sense 1
Noun (2)
circa 1534, in
the meaning defined above
History and
Etymology for lot
Noun (1)
Middle English
lot, lott "object used to decide a matter by chance, decision by the use
of such objects, what one receives through such a decision, destiny,
share," going back to Old English hlot, going back to Germanic *hluta-
(whence also Old Frisian hlot, lot "lot," Old High German hluz, Old
Norse hlutr), noun derivative from a verb *hleutan- "to cast lots"
(whence Old English hlēotan "to cast lots, obtain, gain as one's
lot," Old Saxon hliotan "to obtain," Old High German liozan
"to cast lots," Old Norse hjlóta "to get by lot, obtain, undergo"),
of uncertain origin
Financial
Definition of lot
What It Is
A lot is a
securities trade for a “standard” number of trading units. In stock trading, a
lot is 100 shares (also called a "round lot"). However, inactive
stocks generally trade in 10-share lots.
CASTING LOTS
I WONDER IF
THIS IS NOT THE OLDEST OR ONE OF THE OLDEST USES FOR THE WORD “LOT,” BECAUSE IN
THIS DEFINITION AT LEAST, IT GOES DIRECTLY INTO THE AREA OF RELIGIOUS MAGIC. FORMS
OF DIVINATION WERE CONSIDERED SUPERIOR TO HUMAN REASONING, APPARENTLY, IN
DEFINING WHAT IS OR SHOULD BE THE TRUTH OR THE WILL OF GOD. THAT EXPLAINS “A LOT” TO ME ABOUT HOW
SOME MODERN RELIGIONS HOP DIRECTLY TO MENTAL BLINDNESS AND TO GROUP COHESION AT
ALL COSTS. “THOUGHT AND SCIENCE” DESTROY THAT UNITY BY CREATING INDIVIDUAL
INTERPRETATION AND INEVITABLY, DISUNITY. PRETTY SOON, “TRUTH” IS NO LONGER
TRUTH, AND THAT’S VERY DANGEROUS.
I AGREE THAT A
PROCESS THAT LEADS US AWAY FROM TRUTH IS DESTRUCTIVE INDEED, BUT I DEFINE THE WAY
OF DECIDING WHAT IS TRUE AS BEING RATIONAL, FACTUAL, DEMONSTRABLE AND
SCIENTIFIC, RATHER THAN ETHEREAL OR PURPOSELY IRRATIONAL. TO DAMN RATIONALITY
TO HELL IS THE ULTIMATE DISRUPTER, IN THAT IT WILL INEVITABLY PRODUCE THE PROGRESSIVE
LOWERING OF INTELLIGENCE AND SANITY. HEAVEN HELP A SOCIETY THAT ENCOURAGES
THAT.
READ AT LEAST THE
FIRST PARAGRAPHS OF THIS CLEROMANCY ARTICLE TO GET A GIST OF IT. IT’S ALL
INTERESTING, BUT NOT ALL PERTINENT TO THIS RAMBLING PURSUIT OF THE “LOT,” SO I HAVE
NOT INCLUDED MORE.
Cleromancy
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
[For the use of
random selection as a way to make a fair form of selection, see Sortition.]
Cleromancy is a form of sortition,
casting of lots, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally
would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but are sometimes
believed to reveal the will of God, or other supernatural entities.
In classical
civilization
In ancient Rome fortunes were
told through the casting of lots or “sortes.”
[Sortes: sor·tes,
/ˈsôrˌtēz,-ˌtāz/ -- “divination, or the seeking of guidance, by
chance selection of a passage in the Bible or another text regarded as
authoritative.”]
In
Judeo-Christian tradition
Casting lots
for tribal inheritance, woodcut for Die Bibel in Bildern, 1860, Joshua, Chapter
14
Casting of lots
occurs relatively frequently in the Bible. The Hebrew Bible contains several
examples of the casting of lots as a means of determining God's will:
In the Book of
Leviticus 16:8, God commanded Moses, "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the
two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat."
. . . .
The most
extensive use of drawing of lots in the Pietist tradition may have come
with Count von Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren of Herrnhut, who
drew lots for many purposes, including selection of church sites, approval of
missionaries, the election of bishops and many others. This practice was
greatly curtailed after the General Synod of the worldwide Moravian Unity in
1818[citation needed] and finally discontinued in the 1880s. Many Amish
customarily select ordinary preachers by lot. (Note that the Greek word for
"lot" (kleros) serves as the etymological root for English words like
"cleric" and "clergy" as well as for "cleromancy".[3])
. . . .
FOR MORE FASCINATIN’
STUFF, GO TO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat.
SIMILAR
MATERIAL BUT WITH DIFFERENT DETAILS FROM WICTIONARY.ORG.
English
Etymology
From Middle
English lot, from Old English hlot (“portion, choice, decision”), from
Proto-Germanic *hlutą. Cognate with North Frisian lod, Saterland Frisian
Lot, West Frisian lot, Dutch lot, French lot, German Low German Lott, Middle
High German luz. Related also to German Los.
Noun
lot (plural
lots)
Lot, noun
definition 5
A large
quantity or number; a great deal.
Synonyms: load, mass,
pile
to spend a lot
of money
lots of people
think so
A separate
portion; a number of things taken collectively.
Synonyms: batch,
collection, group, set
a lot of
stationery
One or more
items auctioned or sold as a unit, separate from other items.
(informal) A
number of people taken collectively.
Synonyms:
crowd, gang, group
a sorry lot
a bad lot
A distinct
portion or plot of land, usually smaller than a field.
Synonyms: allotment,
parcel, plot
a building lot
in a city
That which
happens without human design or forethought.
Synonyms: chance,
accident, destiny, fate, fortune
Anything (as a die,
pebble, ball, or slip of paper) used in determining a question by chance,
or without human choice or will.
to cast lots
to draw lots
The part, or
fate, that falls to one, as it were, by chance, or without his planning.
A prize in a
lottery.
Synonym: prize
(Can we find
and add a quotation of Evelyn to this entry?)
Allotment;
lottery.
(definite, the
lot) All members of a set; everything.
The table was
loaded with food, but by evening there was nothing but crumbs; we had eaten the
lot.
If I were in
charge, I'd fire the lot of them.
(historical) An
old unit of weight used in many European countries from the Middle Ages, often
defined as 1/30 or 1/32 of a (local) pound.
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