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• lot
  lot

  noun

  one of a set of objects, such as straws or pebbles, drawn or thrown from a container to decide a question or choice by chance.
• Lot
  Lot

  noun

  (in the Bible) the nephew of Abraham, whose wife was changed into a pillar of salt for looking back during their flight from Sodom.
• lot.
  lot.

  abbreviation

  (in prescriptions) a lotion.

lot

¹ American  

[lot] / lɒt /

noun

• lots
  plural

1. one of a set of objects, such as straws or pebbles, drawn or thrown from a container to decide a question or choice by chance.

2. the casting or drawing of such objects as a method of deciding something.

   They would have to choose a winner by lot.

3. the decision or choice made by drawing or throwing a set of objects such as straws or pebbles.

4. allotted share or portion.

   With her lot of the inheritance, she built a business.

   Synonyms:

   quota, part

5. the portion in life assigned by fate or Providence; one's fate, fortune, or destiny.

   Her lot had not been a happy one.

6. a distinct portion or piece of land.

   a building lot.

7. a piece of land forming a part of a district, city, or other community.

   Synonyms:

   parcel, plot

8. South Midland and Southern U.S. a farmyard or barnyard.

9. a piece of land having the use specified by the attributive noun or adjective.

   a parking lot; a used-car lot.

10. Movies. a motion-picture studio and its surrounding property.

11. a distinct portion or parcel of anything, as of merchandise.

    The furniture was to be auctioned off in 20 lots.

12. a number of things or persons collectively.

    There's one more, and that's the lot.

    Synonyms:

    gang, crowd, group

13. kind of person; sort.

    He's a bad lot.

14. Often lots a great many or a great deal.

    a lot of books;

    lots of money.

15. Chiefly British. a tax or duty.

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verb (used with object)

lotted, lotting

1. to divide or distribute by lot (sometimes followed byout ).

   to lot furniture for sale; to lot out apples by the basketful.

2. to assign to a person as their lot; allot.

3. to divide into lots, as land.

4. Obsolete. to cast or draw lots for.

verb (used without object)

lotted, lotting

1. to draw lots.

adverb

1. Often lots a great deal; greatly.

   Thanks a lot for the ride.

   I care lots about my family.

idioms

1. cast (in) one's lot with, to ally oneself with; share the life and fortunes of.

   She had cast her lot with the bohemian crowd.

2. draw / cast lots, to settle a question by the use of lots.

   They drew lots to see who would go first.

Lot ² American  

[lot] / lɒt /

noun

1. (in the Bible) the nephew of Abraham, whose wife was changed into a pillar of salt for looking back during their flight from Sodom.

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Lot ³ American  

[lawt] / lɔt /

noun

1. a river in S France, flowing W to the Garonne. 300 miles (480 km) long.

2. a department in S France. 2,018 sq. mi. (5,225 sq. km). Cahors.

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lot. ⁴ American  

abbreviation

1. (in prescriptions) a lotion.

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lot ¹ British  

/ lɒt /

pronoun

1. a great number or quantity

   a lot to do

   a lot of people

   a lot of trouble

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noun

1. a collection of objects, items, or people

   a nice lot of youngsters

2. portion in life; destiny; fortune

   it falls to my lot to be poor

3. any object, such as a straw or slip of paper, drawn from others at random to make a selection or choice (esp in the phrase draw or cast lots )

4. the use of lots in making a selection or choice (esp in the phrase by lot )

5. an assigned or apportioned share

6. an item or set of items for sale in an auction

7. an area of land

   a parking lot

8. a piece of land with fixed boundaries

9. a film studio and the site on which it is located

10. an unpleasant or disreputable person

11. to join with voluntarily and share the fortunes of

12. the entire amount or number

adverb

1. to a considerable extent, degree, or amount; very much

   to delay a lot

2. a great deal of the time or often

   to sing madrigals a lot

verb

1. to draw lots for (something)

2. (tr) to divide (land, etc) into lots

3. (tr) another word for allot

Lot ² British  

/ lɒt /

noun

1. a department of S central France, in Midi-Pyrénées region. Capital: Cahors. Pop: 164 413 (2003 est). Area: 5226 sq km (2038 sq miles)

2. a river in S France, rising in the Cévennes and flowing west into the Garonne River. Length: about 483 km (300 miles)

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Lot ³ British  

/ lɒt /

noun

1. Old Testament Abraham's nephew: he escaped the destruction of Sodom, but his wife was changed into a pillar of salt for looking back as they fled (Genesis 19)

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lot More Idioms  

1. see a lot; carry (a lot of) weight; cast one's lot with; fat chance (lot); have (a lot) going for one; have a lot on one's plate; leave a lot to be desired; quite a bit (lot); think a lot of.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lotter
  noun
• sublot
  noun
• interlot
  verb (used with object)
• unlotted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• lots
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lot¹

First recorded before 950; 1805–15 lot for def. 14; Middle English; Old English hlot “portion, choice, decision”; cognate with Dutch lot, Old Norse hlutr; akin to Old English hlīet, German Los, Old Norse hlaut, Gothic hlauts “lot”

Origin of lot.⁴

From the Latin word lōtiō

Explanation

A lot is a plot of land. When you buy a house, you also buy the lot on which it sits. If there's an empty lot in your neighborhood, it means there's a space covered with grass or pavement that's large enough for a house or building to fit there. Another kind of lot is a set or group of items. At an auction or estate sale, you might find a lot of antique silver spoons for sale, or a lot of comic books — in either case, the lot is a collection.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lot Lot lot. lots lotted lotting

A note on the spices: There are a lot of them.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

"I think what the government's trying to say is we need things much more locally that bring a lot more young people into that political or democratic engagement," she said.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

I see a lot of myself in her, just the fiery “I know what I want, I’m going to go get it.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

They had to do a lot of things right to get there.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

“It looks to me like there’s a lot of regret here. But there’s a lot of love, too. You can get through anything when you’ve still got that.”

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Appeared in the September 23, 2026, print edition as 'Surprise: Racial Crime Disparities Have Narrowed a Lot'.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

Mehrabian recalled seeing acts like Tale Of Us and Solomun at Lot 613 in their early days.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

The most expensive part of the collection was Lot 15 – a set of fine Danish vintage cutlery, which sold for £5,200.

From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026

At the rapidly expanding AI on the Lot conference in Culver City, the “Taxi Driver” scripter mixed provocation and unease as he contemplated Hollywood’s future.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026

Lot was angry about the journey and wished to forbid it, but she knew how to deal with that The Queen drew herself silently out of bed, and went to her coffer.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

"At some point will there be a deal? I mean, presumably, they have to trade with us a lot. We trade a lot with them too."

From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026

"In that moment I was in the zone a lot. I didn't hear noise at all," Zverev said.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

“L.A.’s given me a lot. I love the city.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

“Assuming they’re forever stamps, buy a lot. You can always use them later, not for wedding-related things,” another commenter added.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026

“People look at me like that a lot. And I don’t much care, to be honest. But I’m right about the crepes. Trust me.”

From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Beneath a near 13% gain for the S&P 500 so far this year, lots of stocks have been selling off, including one group of workhorse names that Morgan Stanley is now recommending that clients buy.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

As well as being neighbours, the pair are linked in lots of other ways.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

But even in 2026, Abuja can still look half-built, its pockmarked downtown home to modern office buildings alongside empty lots and even farms that pre-date its founding.

From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026

In batting practice Friday, he hit lots of home runs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

“It’s two lots at the farthest end of the valley, Ida B,” he said.

From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan

From the switch the ball is lotted through to Gomez, who again has a poor final touch and the ball reaches James.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2012

Bridges will be al lotted $700 million for repairs, while the remaining $600 million will be devoted to highway safety programs and miscellaneous road projects.

From Time Magazine Archive

So, or since, the Black Stone had wandered into an auction, for the lotted paper was still on it.

From Witch, Warlock, and Magician Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland by W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport) Adams

It was Thanksgiving-Day, too, and they had almost all of them "lotted" upon a New-England Thanksgiving-dinner with old friends, brothers, fathers, mothers, and grandparents.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 50, December, 1861 by Various

I don't deny I lotted on her before she was took away, but I never want to think about her again; so you needn't come nor send.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 26, July 1880. by Various

He has been lotting upon seeing you, maam.

From Cora and The Doctor or Revelations of A Physician's Wife by Madeline Leslie

We’ll do our best for you—but I ain’t lotting much on Latisan’s showing up again.

From Joan of Arc of the North Woods by Holman Day

Related Words

• abundance
• bunch
• collection
• crowd
• group
• load
• much
• number
• plenty
• set