Raffle

//ˈɹæfl̩// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A drawing, often held as a fundraiser, in which tickets or chances are sold to win a prize.

    "He entered a raffle to win a lifetime supply of toothpaste, but he did not win."

  2. 2
    Refuse; rubbish. uncountable
  3. 3
    a lottery in which the prizes are goods rather than money wordnet
  4. 4
    A game of dice in which the player who throws three of the same number wins all the stakes. obsolete
  5. 5
    The system by which cases are assigned to judges in multi-sala courts. Philippines
Verb
  1. 1
    To award something by means of a raffle or random drawing. often, transitive

    "They raffled off four gift baskets."

  2. 2
    dispose of in a lottery wordnet
  3. 3
    To participate in a raffle. intransitive

    "to raffle for a watch"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English rafle, from Old French rafle, raffle (“dice game", also "plundering”), from rafler (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), from Frankish *raffolōn, from Proto-Germanic *hrapōną, *hrēpōną (“to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreb(h)-, *(s)kerb(h)- (“to turn, bend, shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Middle Dutch raffel (“dice game”), German raffen (“to snatch away, sweep off”), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat, attack”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English rafle, from Old French rafle, raffle (“dice game", also "plundering”), from rafler (“to snatch, seize, carry off”), from Frankish *raffolōn, from Proto-Germanic *hrapōną, *hrēpōną (“to scratch, touch, pluck out, snatch”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreb(h)-, *(s)kerb(h)- (“to turn, bend, shrink”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Middle Dutch raffel (“dice game”), German raffen (“to snatch away, sweep off”), Old English hreppan (“to touch, treat, attack”).

Etymology 3

See raff.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: raffle