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• raffles
  raffles

  noun

  a gentlemanly burglar, amateur housebreaker, or the like.
• Raffles
  Raffles

  noun

  Sir Thomas Stamford, 1781–1826, English colonial administrator in the East Indies.

raffles

¹ American  

[raf-uhlz] / ˈræf əlz /

noun

(often initial capital letter)

1. a gentlemanly burglar, amateur housebreaker, or the like.

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Raffles ² American  

[raf-uhlz] / ˈræf əlz /

noun

1. Sir Thomas Stamford, 1781–1826, English colonial administrator in the East Indies.

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Raffles British  

/ ˈræfəlz /

noun

1. Sir Thomas Stamford . 1781–1826, British colonial administrator: founded Singapore (1819) as a station for the British East India Company

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Etymology

Origin of raffles

1925–30; after Raffles, hero of The Amateur Cracksman, by E. W. Hornung (1866–1921), English novelist

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

raffles Raffles

These might include old-school offerings like block parties, back-to-school events, give-aways and raffles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026

They have held auctions, organized raffles and invited influencers to participate in promotional clips.

From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2024

She has now set up a fundraiser and raffles to try and raise enough money for roof and kitchen repairs which she was told would cost around £30,000.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2023

For some reason, he keeps entering raffles for travel but has not won another one since we got married.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2023

She had arrived in Macondo in the middle of the war with a chance husband who lived off raffles, and when the man died she kept up the business.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

As always with these assignments, we had limited time but thankfully we were shooting at the wonderful Raffles in London and Luis, Catherine and Jenna were so wonderful.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2025

Known to the children as “aunty” or “grandma,” Johnson would treat them to dips in the pool at the Raffles and doted on them at the center.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025

Westminster Development Services is best known for redeveloping the site of the former Old War Office building on Whitehall as a Raffles hotel complex.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2024

The best spots are already taken by a Pullman, a Raffles, and other luxury hotels.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2023

In the early nineteenth century Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore, while supervising the British occupation of Java sent two gamelan sets back to Britain, housed today in the British Museum.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall