one-armed bandit

or onearm bandit

[ wuhn-ahrmd ]

/ ˈwʌnˌɑrmd /

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See synonyms for one-armed bandit on Thesaurus.com

noun Informal.

slot machine (def. 1).

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of one-armed bandit

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

Words nearby one-armed bandit

one-acter, one and all, one and only, one and the same, one another, one-armed bandit, on earth, on easy street, one-bagger, one-base hit, one by one

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use one-armed bandit in a sentence

Added to drinking water at concentrations of around one part per million, fluoride ions stick to dental plaque.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
In his view, a writer has only one duty: to be present in his books.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Yet this, in the end, is a book from which one emerges sad, gloomy, disenchanted, at least if we agree to take it seriously.
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
They are, to say the least, preparing for civil war (the polling stations are stormed by armed gangs).
Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President|Pierre Assouline|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST

The fear of violence should not determine what one does or does not say.
Trolls and Martyrdom: Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie|Arthur Chu|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Practise gliding in the form of inflection, or slide, from one extreme of pitch to another.
Expressive Voice Culture|Jessie Eldridge Southwick
He alludes to it as one of their evil customs and used by them to produce insensibility.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
There was a rumor that Alessandro and his father had both died; but no one knew anything certainly.
Ramona|Helen Hunt Jackson
Truth is a torch, but one of enormous size; so that we slink past it in rather a blinking fashion for fear it should burn us.
Pearls of Thought|Maturin M. Ballou
Under the one-sixth they appear as slender, highly refractive fibers with double contour and, often, curled or split ends.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd

British Dictionary definitions for one-armed bandit

one-armed bandit

noun

a fruit machine operated by pulling down a lever at one side

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with one-armed bandit

one-armed bandit

A slot machine, as in It's amazing how many people think they can make money playing a one-armed bandit. This term refers to both appearance and function: the operating lever looks like an arm, and the machine in effect robs players, since it “wins” and keeps the player's money in an overwhelming majority of instances. [c. 1930]

one-armed bandit

or onearm bandit

Origin of one-armed bandit

Words nearby one-armed bandit

Words related to one-armed bandit

How to use one-armed bandit in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for one-armed bandit

Other Idioms and Phrases with one-armed bandit