Forms: 1 hlot, hlott, hlodd, 2–8 lott, 4–6 lote, 4–7 lotte, (4 loth, 4–6 loot, 5 loote, lootte), 2– lot. [OE. hlot neut. (rendering L. sors, portio):—OTeut. type *hluto-m, f. the wk. grade of the root *hleut- (: hlaut- : hlūt-) occurring in the str. vb. OE. hléotan, OS. hliotan, OHG. lioẓan (MHG. lieẓen), ON. hlióta, to cast lots, obtain by lot. The precise formal equivalent of the Eng. word is not found elsewhere exc. perh. in Fris. hlot (? neut.), MDu. lot neut. (also masc.), Du. lot neut.; but synonymous sbs. from the same root appear in all the Teut. langs. From the wk. grade are, besides those already mentioned, OHG. (h)luẓ masc., ON. hlut-r, hlot-r masc. (MSw. luter; loter, Sw. lott, Da. lod), hlute wk. masc.; from the form *hlaut- are OE. hlýt, hlét, hlíet masc. (:—OTeut. *hlauti-z), Goth. hlaut-s masc. (rendering κλῆρος), OS. hlôt masc., OHG. (h)lôẓ masc. and neut. (MHG. lôẓ masc. and neut., mod.G. loos, los neut.); cf. also ON. hlaut fem., blood of sacrifice. The Teut. word was adopted into the Rom. langs.: F. lot (whence lotir to divide, in OF. to cast lots), It. lotto game of chance, Sp., Pg. lote lot, Sp. loto ‘lot’ put up to auction. Probably some of the uses of the Eng. word are due to the influence of F. lot.
The primary meaning of the Teut. root *hleut- is uncertain. Schrader has suggested that it may have been formed by secondary ablaut from the wk.-grade *hlut- (repr. pre-Teut. kļd-: see HOLT) in the sb. *hluto-m, the primary sense of which would then be the piece of wood used in casting lots. But this conjecture is very doubtful, and not free from difficulties.]
1. An object (app. usually a piece of wood) used in a widely diffused ancient method of deciding disputes, dividing plunder or property, selecting persons for an office or duty, etc., by an appeal to chance or the divine agency supposed to be concerned in the results of chance. The ‘lots,’ each bearing the special mark of one of the competitors, were placed in a receptacle (in Homeric Greece a helmet); according to Greek procedure the vessel was shaken, the winning lot being that which fell out first; in Scandinavia (see Vigf. s.v. hlutr) the winning lot was drawn out by an uninterested party. In Eng. (exc. in rare modern instances, chiefly translations from ancient langs.) the word in this sense occurs only in the phr. to cast, draw († also lay, put, send, throw, warp) lots (or † lot); followed by on or upon, over, between, for (the object or objects concerned); also by inf. or indirect interrog. clause.
In genuine OE. idiom the vb. governing hlot was weorpan to throw (see WARP v.); cf. G. das loos werfen, L. sortes conicere, Gr. κλῆρος βάλλειν. In ME. werpe was superseded by the synonymous cast and throw. The OE. use of sendan is a Latinism, after mittere of the Vulgate. The only forms of the phrase that survive are to cast lots (arch.) and to draw lots (cf. F. tirer au sort), which is interpreted as synonymous with to draw cuts (CUT sb.1 1).
971. Blickl. Hom., 229. Hie sendon hlot him betweonum, hwider hyra ʓehwylc faran scolde to læranne.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvii. 35. Hiʓ to-dældon hys reaf & wurpon hlot [L. sortem mittentes] þær-ofer.
c. 1205. Lay., 13858. Vmbe fiftene ȝer þat folc his isomned … & heore loten werpeð vppen þan þe hit faleð he scal uaren of londe.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, in O. E. Misc., 50. Ac hi casten heore lot hwes he scolde beo.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter xxi. 18. And mi cleþinge lote kaste þai on.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 124. Lotes did þei kast, for whom þei had þat wo.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. xiv. 42. Sende ȝe lot bitwixe [1535 Coverdale Cast the lot ouer, 1611 Cast lots betweene] me and Jonathas my sone.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1933, Ariadne. Euery thridde yere … They caste lot, and as it fil a-boute On riche or pore, he muste his sone take [etc.].
c. 1420. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1569. Mathy and Barnabe, drawyng lottys, stood.
c. 1475. Partenay, 3184. Thay haue caste ther loote certes you vppon.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 455. The French men … had divided the prisoners and spoyles among them, and had cast lottes for them.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, VII. 153. Each markt his lot, and cast it in, to Agamemnons caske.
1647. Jer. Taylor, Lib. Proph., xi. 171. The lot was throwne, and God made to be Judge.
1703. Burchett, Naval Trans., III. xix. (1720), 391. That the Regiments should cast Lots which of them should go on shore first.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XIV. 239, note. The sons cast lots for their patrimony.
1744. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., IV. 722. The several Nations had drawn Lots for the performance of the Ceremony.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, 26. Their numbers given, the lots were cast, To fix the names of first and last.
1840. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm. (1842), V. xv. 296. Supposing we had to cast lots for some worldly benefit.
a. 1851. Joanna Baillie, Ethwald, III. iv. Wks. (1851), 150. Ethw. (giving a soldier a helmet filled with lots) Here, take the lots and deal them fairly round.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 341. Some ingenious kind of lots which the less worthy may draw.
1888. E. B. Tylor, in Archæol. Rev., March. Specimens of the sticks or other lots cut with patterns, which were used in the re-distribution of the communal plots of land.
b. In abstract sense: The casting or drawing of lots, or the use of any equivalent process, to obtain a decision. Chiefly in phr. by lot (occas. † by lots). Also fig.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2415. Þe stalworþest me ssal bi choys & bi lot al so Chese out.
1382. Wyclif, Num. xxxiii. 54. The which ȝe shal dyuyde to ȝou bi lot.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 130. So as it falleth upon lot.
1568. Grafton, Chron., I. 95. They were of the Countrie of Germany, and put out of their Countrie by a maner & sort of a Lot, which is sundrie times used in the sayde lande.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1637), 797. Mathias is chosen by lots, to the Apostleship.
1642. R. Harris, Serm., 43. Let’s put it to the Lot.
1649. Milton, Eikon., xv. But that controversy divine lot hath ended.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxx. 184. Good Counsell comes not by Lot, nor by Inheritance.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xxvi. (1819), 457. The distribution of provision may be made by lot, as it is in a sailor’s mess.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 125. The ancients knew that election by lot was the most democratic of all modes of appointment.
1884. trans. Lotze’s Logic, 400. The only remaining possibility is either the lot, or the decision of some external will.
c. The choice resulting from a casting of lots. In phr. The lot falls († limps) on (a person or thing).
c. 1205. [see 1].
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 194. And ay þe lote, vpon laste, lymped on Ionas.
1568. Grafton, Chron., I. 29. Then he caused lots to be cast out, to know who should be king, and the lot fell upon the tribe of Beniamin.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xxix. 115. Lots were cast five times … and all those five times the lot fell still on a little Boy of seven years of age.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., II. vii. (1857), 284. The lot fell on Egmont to devise some suitable livery.
d. fig. The lot is cast: the decisive step is taken. (Cf. DIE sb.)
1682. Otway, Venice Preserv., IV. i. Now the lot’s cast, and, fate, do what thou will.
1855. Browning, Statue & Bust, 55. Calmly he said that her lot was cast, That the door she had passed was shut on her Till the final catafalk repassed.
e. Phr. To cast (rarely throw) in one’s lot with: to associate oneself with and share the fortunes of. (After Prov. i. 14 where the expression has its literal sense, with reference to partition of plunder.)
1382. Wyclif, Prov. i. 14. Loi ley with vs, o bagge of monee be of vs alle.
1535. Coverdale, ibid. Cast in thy lott amonge us, we shal haue all one purse.
1678. Bunyan, Pilgr., I. 6. I intend to go along with this good man, and to cast in my lot with him.
1740. Wesley, Wks. (1872), I. 283. Seven or eight and forty likewise … desired to cast in their lot with us.
1834. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), III. 39. She [England] must abide the chances with those with whom she hast cast in her lot.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 708. We find East-Anglia heartily throwing in its lot with Wessex.
† f. To put in lot: ? to put (money) in a joint venture or speculation. Obs.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., I. xii. (1636), 34. Foure Merchants did put their money in lot in this manner.
† g. sing. and pl. Applied to games of chance. Also, to divinatory appeals to chance; hence occas. a sortilege, spell. Obs.
1577. Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 139. Whosoeuer vseth this chaunce of lottes in ydle and trifling things taketh the name and prouidence of God in vaine.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. ii. IV. (1651), 275. Many too nicely take exceptions at Cardes, Tables and Dices, and such mixt lusorious lots.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Envy (Arb.), 515. There is no other Cure of Enuy, but the cure of Witchcraft: and that is, to remoue the Lot (as they call it) and to lay it vpon another.
1649. Alcoran, 63. Consult not with Southsayers or Lots, it is a great sin.
1777. Johnson, L. P., Cowley (1821), I. 8. I cannot but suspect Cowley of having consulted on this great occasion the Virgilian lots.
† h. pl. As the name of a particular game. Obs.
1579. Twyne, trans. Petrarch’s Physicke agst. Fortune, I. xxvi. 35. I delight moreover to play at Lottes [L. calculis]. Reason. O chyldishe desyre … for olde doating men to stande gaping ouer a payre of tables, and a fewe rouling peeces of wood, by stealth robbing or falling in.
2. What falls to a person by lot.
a. That which is assigned by lot to a person as his share or portion in an inheritance, or in a distribution of property; a division or share of property made by lot. Phr. † To give in or to lot (or lots) to: to allot to. Also, to fall to (or † in) the lot of.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xv. 12. Da mihi portionem substantiae, sel me dæl vel hlodd fæes.
958. Grant, in Birch, Cartul. Sax., III. 230. On Fearnes felda ʓe byrað tweʓa manna hlot landes in to Sudwellan.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6964. In a land þat hight sichim, Was gin in loth to ioseph kin [Fairf. was giuen to loth Ioseph kin]. Ibid. (a. 1300), 10385. To godd þe lambes he gaf to lottes.
1382. Wyclif, Josh. xv. 1. The lot [1388 part] of the sones of Juda, bi her kynredis, was this.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIV. xii. (1495), 473. Effraym had many pertyculer hylles and dennes, for all ye lotte of the lygnage is moost in mountaynes & in wodes.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiii. 58. Þat cuntree es called Galilea Gentium, and it fell in þe lote of Zabulon and of Neptalim.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xv[i]. 6. The lott is fallen vnto me in a fayre grounde, yee I haue a goodly heretage.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, X. 739. Thy Barrs, and Ingots, and the Sums beside, Leave for thy Childrens Lot.
1737. Bolingbroke, Study & Use Hist., vii. 188. The whole ten provinces were thrown into the lot of France.
1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. vii. 92. When the revenues of a cathedral or a cure fell to the lot of a monastery.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. xii. 225. One lot, and one only, they were to have; the rest they were to carve out for themselves.
b. Phr. † To have (or win) lot with (a person) of or in (a thing), also † to have lot and dole (cut, cavel) with: to have a share with. Now only to have no (neither) part nor lot in, after Acts viii. 21.
c. 1150. Burgh Lawis, liv. in Anct. Laws & Cust. Burghs Scot. (1868), 26. Et sciendum est quod stallangiator nullo tempore potest habere loth cut neque cavyl de aliquo mercimonio cum burgense nisi infra quando quilibet potest habere loth et cavyl.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4030. Ȝiff þatt teȝȝ wolldenn habbenn lott Wiþþ himm inn eche blisse. Ibid., 9847. & winnenn lott wiþþ Abraham Off eche blisse inn heoffne.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues (1888), 111. Nis non mihte on godes temple ðat ne hafþ lott and dole mid ðessere eadiȝe mihte.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in Lamb. Hom., 187. Hwa se euer wule habbe lot wiþ þe of þi blisse, he mot deale wiþ þe of þine pine on eorþe.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., III. i. 277. The preestis and dekenes of the Oold Testament schulden not haue part and lott in the firste parting of the lond of Iewry.
1582. N. T. (Rhem.), Acts viii. 21. Thou hast no part, nor lot in this word. 1611 Ibid. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter [Gr. οὐκ ἔστι σοι μερὶς οὐδὲ κλῆρος ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ].
1825. Macaulay, Ess., Milton (1851), I. 24. Having neither part nor lot in human infirmities.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Cinnamon & Pearls, vi. 102. Rayo and his countrymen had no part nor lot in the harvests of their native land.
† c. One’s turn (to do something); originally, as determined by lot. Obs.
c. 1200. Ormin, 133. Att ænne time whanne hiss lott Wass cumenn upp to þeowwtenn, He toc hiss reclefatt onn hand, Annd ȝede innto þe temmple.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1887., Ariadne. Now cometh thy lot, now comestow on the rynge. Ibid. (c. 1386), Friar’s Prol., 27. Lat hym seye to me What so hym list; whan it comth to my lot, By god, I shal hym quiten euery grot.
1611. Bible, Luke i. 9. According to the custome of the Priests office, his lot was to burne incense when he went into the Temple of the Lord.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 561. Gabriel, to thee thy cours by Lot hath giv’n Charge and strict watch that to this happie place No evil thing approach or enter in.
d. fig. That which is given to a person by fate or divine providence; esp. one’s destiny, fortune or ‘portion’ in this life; condition (good or bad) Phr. the lot falls (to a person), (it) falls to the lot of (a person), or it falls to (him) as his lot (to have or to do something).
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14108. Þe better lott has mari chosen. Ibid., 14555. Þat was sir Iudas scarioth Of alle him fell þe werst lot.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Eph., 2. We wer chosen vnto the lotte and enheritaunce of immortalitie.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 226. A minde satisfied with his appointed lotte.
1586. B. Young, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., IV. 179. Therefore let vs make triall, to whose Lot it shal befall to beare the swaie.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 2. If any man conceit, that this is the lot and portion of the meaner sort onely. Ibid., Isa. xvii. 14. This is the portion of them that spoile vs, and the lot of them that robbe vs.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 952. However I with thee have fixt my Lot, Certain to undergoe like doom. Ibid. (1671), Samson, 1743. Bewailing His lot unfortunate in nuptial choice.
1684. Bunyan, Pilgr., II. 205. Shall it be my Lot to go that way again.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 155, ¶ 1. That Part of the Fair Sex whose Lot in Life is to be of any Trade.
1764. Goldsm., Trav., 178. He sees his little lot the lot of all.
1769–72. Junius Lett., Pref. 10. They … confess that they are dissatisfied with the common lot of humanity.
1799. R. Sicklemore, Agnes & Leonora, II. 196. Agnes … enjoyed a greater portion of real bliss than in general falls to the lot of mortals.
1813. Scott, Rokeby, III. xxviii. Song, A weary lot is thine, fair maid.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 7. It has been either my good or evil lot to have my roving passion gratified.
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 72. Some pet scheme or other, To remedy the lot of our poor folk.
1891. Sir R. Webster, in Law Times, XC. 431/1. It falls to my lot to express in a few words [etc.].
† 3. In the Ormulum: A part, portion or division of anything; a number (of things or persons) forming part of a larger whole. Obs. (Cf. sense 8.)
c. 1200. Ormin, 10939. Þise cullfress Þat sinndenn i þiss middellærd An lott off manne fode. Ibid., 15248. Þe maste lott tatt heȝhesst iss Iss þatt lærede genge Þatt iss ȝuw sett abufenn ȝuw To ȝemenn & to lærenn … Þiss lott off all Crisstene follc Iss heȝhesst unnderr Criste. Ibid., 19017, 19150.
4. A tax, due or custom. Scot and lot (formerly also † lot and scot): see SCOT.
1530. Palsgr., 241/1. Lotte or shotte, escot.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 283. That it was done by authority of the Commission of Sewers for Lotte or Taxe assessed by that Commission.
b. Derbyshire Mines. A payment of the thirteenth ‘dish’ of lead as royalty to the lord of the mine. (Cf. lot-lead in 10.)
1631, a. 1661. [see COPE sb.3 3].
1653. Manlove, Lead Mines, 76. The thirteenth dish of oar within their mine, To th’ Lord for Lot, they pay at measuring time.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., M j b. The chief Proprietor and Lord of the Mine; to whom Lot or Farm is paid by the Miner.
1851. Act 14 & 15 Vict., c. 94. Sched. i. § 9. The Duty called Lot is and shall be One Thirteenth Part of all Ore raised within the Jurisdiction of the Barmote Courts.
† 5. A prize in a lottery. Great lot, chief lot, the highest prize. Obs. [After Rom. uses; cf. F. le gros lot.] Also in the card-game (see LOTTERY).
† It is lots to blanks = ‘it is a thousand to one.’
1567. Lottery Chart, Aug. The number of Lots [in a Lottery] shall be Foure hundreth thousand, and no moe: and euery Lot shall be the summe of Tenne shillings sterling onely, and no more.
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. ii. 10. It is Lots to Blankes, My name hath touch’t your eares.
1634. Wither, Emblems, Direction at end, If it be the upper Figure, whose Index you moved, than, that Number whereupon it resteth, is the number of your Lot, or Blancke.
1698. Wheel of Fortune, 2. Some more lucky Sot, Had march’d off with his Lot, And that was the Thousand pound Chance.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 170, ¶ 6. You, who have both the furnishing and turning of that Wheel of Lots. Ibid. (1710), No. 203, ¶ 2. The Chief Lot he was confident would fall upon some Puppy.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 191, ¶ 1. Each of these … thinks he stands fairest for the great Lot.
1850. Bohn’s Handbk. Games, 327. (Lottery), One of them [dealers] deals a card to each player; all these cards are to remain turned, and are called the lots.
1876. ‘Capt. Crawley,’ Card Players’ Man., 235. (Lottery), One dealer gives to every player a card, face downwards, for the lots or prizes.
6. a. (Now chiefly U.S.) A plot or portion of land assigned by the state to a particular owner. Hence, any piece of land divided off or set apart for a particular purpose, e.g., for building or pasture. Phr. Across or cross lots: across the lots or fields as a short cut (U.S. colloq.). b. (? Influenced by sense 7.) One of the plots or portions in which a tract of land is divided when offered for sale.
1633. Mass. Col. Rec. (1853), I. 102. The westermost part of the Governors greate lot.
1641. Connect. Col. Rec. (1850), I. 505. To Jacob, my sonne, I giue my howse and lotts, meadow, homelotte and great lott and lottes whatsoeuer on this side the great Riuer.
1689. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., I. 317. If ye Province will build me a house in the City, vpon my Lott.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 154. E. and F. are twenty Lots for Docks,… p. and q. Thirty Lots for principal Merchants … to store their Imports and Exports.
1805. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., II. 473. Each of these freemen possesses what is called a lot or freedom, containing about four acres of arable land.
1836. Backwoods of Canada, 47. Every little dwelling … has its lot of land. Ibid., 89. The plains are sold off in park lots.
1840. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life, III. vii. 109. The lot, about an acre, is to be sold on the first of next month.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., s.v., ‘I left the road and went across lots, to shorten the distance,’ i. e. across the open fields or meadows.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 700. Each of the lots in the plain had an appointed chief … the size of the lot was a square of ten stadia each way.
1879. H. George, Progr. & Pov., VII. i. (1881), 303. A house and the lot on which it stands are alike property.
7. An article, or set of articles, offered separately at a general sale; esp. each of the items at a sale by auction.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 4060/5. Lot 65. Cont. Brown Sugar.
1755. Johnson, Lot (4), a portion; a parcel of goods as being drawn by lot: as, what lot of silks had you at the sale?
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), V. 1571. In general, we paid for each lot or separate article as we received them.
1821. Byron, Juan, III. xv. He had chain’d His prisoners, dividing them like chapters In number’d lots.
1859. Chamb. Jrnl., 23 April, 270/2. Lot after lot was disposed of … at what were considered good prices.
1901. Prince Kropotkin, in 19th Cent., 426. Lot 1 was brought up in a box.
b. transf. Applied with depreciatory epithet to a person; chiefly in a bad lot.
1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, xxxvii. [A schoolboy says:] Charley’s not a bad lot, and he sha’n’t be harmed.
1881. J. Grant, Cameronians, I. i. 7. He had come home … with the current reputation, among his set, of being ‘a bad lot.’
1894. Mrs. H. Ward, Marcella, III. 345. I’m a bad lot, I know—well, an idle lot—I don’t think I am a bad lot.
8. gen. A number of persons or things of the same kind, or associated in some way; a quantity or collection (of things); a party, set, or ‘crew’ (of persons); also, a quantity (of anything). Now only colloq., except with reference to articles of commerce, goods, live stock, and the like. Often with some degree of depreciation, either implied, or expressed by an epithet. (Cf. sense 3.)
c. 1575. J. Hooker, Life Sir P. Carew (1857), 49. The next day, the people, like a lot of wasps, were up in sundry places.
1725. in G. Sheldon, Hist. Deerfield, Mass. (1895), I. 449. Our men … discovered a partie of the Enemy that had killed a mare & a Lott of men.
1789. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xvi. § 16. On the one hand a lot of punishment is a lot of pain; on the other hand the profit of an offence is a lot of pleasure.
1805. T. Holcroft, Bryan Perdue, I. 30. Put all the countries in the world in a bag, and the whole lot of them not worth little I-reland.
1854. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 249. Two several lots of children who were to be there.
1872. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 140. The Good Samaritan, on the dump of which a large lot of ore has accumulated.
1879. W. Benham, Mem. Cath. & Crau. Tait, 501. Their crew seem to have been a lazy lot.
1883. E. Ingersoll, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 206/2. The men who do this work are an interesting lot.
1894. E. R. Turner, in Law Times, 30 Aug., 310/1. The defendant saw the calves, one of which, the only wye calf in the lot, was poorly.
1884. West. Morn. News, 30 Aug., 1/6. The above will be found to be an altering lot of Stock.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 348. He said the natives were an exceedingly bad lot.
b. The lot = the whole of a certain number or quantity. colloq.
1867. Mrs. H. Wood, Orville Coll., I. xi. 252. I caught young Dick buying a quart [of gooseberries]. He’s crunching the lot.
1877. Fraser’s Mag., XVI. 381. ‘What is your fare?’… ‘A shilling for the lot.’
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, i. (ed. 2), 8. There was something about the lot of us that meant mischief.
9. colloq. A considerable number, quantity or amount; a good deal, a great deal. Used in sing. (a lot) and plur.; also as quasi-adv. Often absol., without explicit mention of the persons or things intended. Also with adj., as a good lot, a great lot.
1812. Spirit Pub. Jrnls., XVI. 191. Lots of our Senators have of late been subject to the awful visitation.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, II. 47. Gallons of Arrack, lots of beer.
1835. Keble, in Sir J. T. Coleridge, Mem. (1869), 201. Till you have read a good lot of the Fathers.
1849. Clough, Poems, etc. (1869), I. 158. You see lots of villas, six or seven at least, in ruins.
1853. Ld. Houghton, in T. W. Reid, Life (1891), I. xi. 491. General B. … who is factotum of the Court, and who has lots of gossip.
1858. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 368. Having had lots of time to unpack and dress.
1886. Cornh. Mag., July, 41. There was plenty of cider—a lot too much, indeed.
1891. E. Peacock, N. Brendon, I. 69. Good bye, I’ve lots to do.
1894. H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., 306. The colony could get lots more to take your post, if they hanged you.
1901. Blackw. Mag., Aug., 223/1. I would give a lot to have had Raeburn paint her.
1901. ‘A. Hope,’ Tristram of Blent, x. 113. But, mind you, Duplay’s a very superior fellow. He knows the deuce of a lot.
10. Comb., as (sense 6) lot-holder: (sense 1) lot-casting ppl. adj.; † lot-layer American, one appointed to lay out land in lots; † lot-lead Mining (see quot. and cf. sense 4 b); lot-man, † (a) a pressed seaman; † (b.) an alleged synonym for pirate; (c) Sc. see quot. 1890; lot-mead, -meadow, a common meadow, the shares in which are apportioned by lot; lot-money (see quot. and sense 7); † lot-monger, one who practises sortilege; † lot-pot, an urn from which lots are shaken or drawn (cf. lottery-pot s.v. LOTTERY 5); lot-seller, -selling (see quots.); † lot-teller, a fortune teller.
1569. J. Sanford, trans. Agrippa’s Van. Artes, 2 b. A *lot-castinge Arithmetician.
1852. Grote, Greece, II. lxxix. X. 407. Kleruchs or *lot-holders.
1677. New Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. (1873), XXVII. 48. It was agreed that … the *lot layers of both ends of the town … are apointed to consider tender cases.
c. 1480. Mendip Laws, in Phelps, Hist. Somerset, VII. (1839), 6. So that he doth … pay his *lott lead, which is the tenth pound which shall be blown on the hearth or hearths.
1758. J. Blake, Plan Mar. Syst., 28. The number of volunteer seamen, together with the *lot-men…, may not be sufficient to man the navy.
1887. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Lotman, an old term for pirate.
1890. Scots Observer, 1 Feb., 296/1. The lotman was the thresher and he was to be found erewhile on every farm of the Lowlands.
1553. Stanford Churchw. Acc., in Antiquary, XVII. 117/2. For grasse in the *loot mede yt belongythe to ye churche ijs.
1659–70. Aubrey, Topogr. Collect. Wilts (1862), 198. Here [Wanborough] is a Lott-mead celebrated yearly with great ceremony.
1813. T. Davis, Agric. Wilts, App. 259. Lot-Meads, common meadows divided into acres or equal sized pieces; but the property to the hay of each piece being determined yearly by lot.
1675. W. Leonard, Reports, IV. 43. Where many have *Lot-Meadow to be divided every year by lot who shall have the Grass of such an Acre, and who of such an Acre, &c.
1878. G. B. L. Marriott, trans. E. de Laveleye’s Prim. Property, 114. In many English villages meadows are still found divided into parts, which are annually assigned by lot among the co-partners. These are called lot meadows or lammas land.
1725. Lond. Gaz., No. 6363/2. The Buyer is to pay down in Part Five Guineas each Lott, and the Goods are to be taken away … on or before the 21st of May…, or the *Lott-Money forfeited.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, R iv b. That law was fyrste ordeined against *lottemongers, enchaunters, and sorcerers.
1603. Florio, Montaigne, I. xix. (1632), 31. Of all shak’t is the *lot-pot [Hor. Carm., II. iii. 26 omnium versatur urna].
1619. Gataker, Lots, 4. The tickets or tokens that were cast into the Lot-pot.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 447. The *Lot-sellers proper, are those who vend a variety of small articles, or ‘a lot,’ all for id. Ibid. The origin of *‘lot-selling’ or selling ‘penny lots’ instead of penny articles, was more curious.
1575. (title) A Dialogue of Witches, in foretime named *Lot-tellers, and now commonly called Sorcerers [trans. Danæus].
