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lucre

[loo-ker]
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noun

monetary reward or gain; money.

Origin of lucre

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin lucrum profit; akin to Old English lēan reward, German Lohn, Gothic, Old Norse laun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lucre

gravy, wealth, revenue, funds, capital, riches, cash, take, gain, income, gate, receipts, proceeds, resources, earnings

Examples from the Web for lucre

Contemporary Examples of lucre

Historical Examples of lucre

  • Other causes are added to lucre, or are the consequences of it.

  • Here are our instruments of deception, our poisoned 75 sources of lucre.

    The Book of Khalid

    Ameen Rihani

  • The professor does not practice this art for the lucre of gain, but he understands it in detail.

    The Gypsies

    Charles G. Leland

  • Spain would have the princess Lucre, in despite of Holland and all the Jews.

  • It is a work of love, not of lucre; and, as such, is commended to the brotherhood.

British Dictionary definitions for lucre

lucre

noun

usually facetious money or wealth (esp in the phrase filthy lucre)

Word Origin for lucre

C14: from Latin lūcrum gain; related to Old English lēan reward, German Lohn wages
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for lucre
n.

late 14c., from Latin lucrum "gain, advantage, profit; wealth, riches," from PIE root *lau- "gain, profit" (cf. Greek apo-lanein "to enjoy," Gothic launs, German lohn "wages, reward," and possibly Sanskrit lotam, lotram "booty"). Filthy lucre (Tit. i:11) is Tyndale's rendering of Greek aischron kerdos.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper