| 释义 |
▪ I. luck, n.|lʌk|
Also 5–6 luk(e, 6–7 lucke.
[a. LG. (Du., OFris.) luk, a shortened form of geluk (MDu. gelucke = MHG. gelücke, mod.G. glück). Parallel adoptions of the LG. word are Icel. lukka (14th c.), MSw. lukka, lykka (mod.Sw. lycka), Da. lykke. Probably it came into English as a gambling term; the LG. dialects were a frequent source of such terms in 15–16 centuries.
The ultimate etymology of MHG. gelücke (:—OHG. *gilucchi:—OTeut. type *galukkjo-m) is obscure. So far as meaning is concerned nothing could be more plausible than Paul's view (Beitr. VII. 133 note) that the word is connected with G. gelingen (OHG. gilingan) to succeed, turn out well or ill, as G. druck pressure with dringen to press, schluck gulp with schlingen to swallow, ruck wrench with ringen to wrench. But morphologically this assumption seems quite inadmissible, and most scholars deny the existence of etymological affinity in any of these instances. Formally, the word might be cognate with louk v.1 or v.2, or with G. locken to entice (OHG. lockôn) and the synonymous OHG. lucchen; but no probable hypothesis seems to have been formed to connect the meaning of the n. with that of any of these vbs.]
1. a. Fortune good or ill; the fortuitous happening of events favourable or unfavourable to the interests of a person; a person's condition with regard to the favourable or unfavourable character of some fortuitous event, or of the majority of the fortuitous events in which he has an interest. Often with adj., as bad luck, hard luck, evil luck, good-luck, ill-luck. Also, the imagined tendency of chance (esp. in matters of gambling) to produce events continuously favourable or continuously unfavourable; the friendly or hostile disposition ascribed to chance at a particular time.
1481,a1529[see good luck]. 1530Palsgr. 241/1 Lucke, happe, hevr. a1547Surrey in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 220 And if to light on you my luck so good shall be, I shall be glad to fede on that that would haue fed on me. 1563B. Googe Eglogs vii. (Arb.) 61 Let vs here what lucke you haue had in loue. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 39 It was his hard lucke & curssed chaunce,..to finde [etc.]. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 93, I haue but leane lucke in the match. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. v. 823 It hath beene my luck alwayes to beat the bush, while another kild the Hare. 1653Walton Angler ii. 60 Wel Scholer, you must indure worse luck sometime, or you will never make a good Angler. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 18 Yes; Tom sings well; but his Luck's naught. 1791Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest xv, I hope we shall have better luck next time. 1856G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. xvii, The Arch⁓croupier below, they say, arranges these matters for beginners; but the luck turns at last. 1882Ouida Maremma I. ii. 41 ‘He has got his deserts’, and Jaconda... ‘Luck always changes’. 1883Howells Woman's Reason II. xx. 178 He bade him..get fire to light the beacon. Giffen refused. ‘No, sir; better not have any of my luck about it’.
†b. A piece of (good or bad) luck. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 580/2, I have a shreude chaunce or a shreude tourne, or I have an yvell lucke, il me meschiet. 1603Drayton Bar. Wars iv. xxxiv, Those evill Lucks, in numbers many are, That to thy footsteps do themselves apply.
c. In generalized sense: Chance regarded as a cause or bestower of success and failure. Sometimes personified.
1534–5More Dauy the Dycer Wks. 1433 Long was I, lady Lucke, your seruing man. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 83 One refuge yet remaineth, that is patiently to suffer what so euer lucke allotteth. 1630Davenant Cruel Bro. i. i. B 2, Report is then become a Bawde to Luck; Whom Fortune doth enrich, Fame doth flatter. 1899A. Griffiths in Fortn. Rev. LXV. 307 Luck, in the great game of war, is undoubtedly lord of all. 1902A. E. W. Mason Four Feathers iii. 23, I told you luck might look my way. Well, she has. I go out to Egypt on General Graham's Staff.
d. Predicatively, it is good or bad luck = ‘it is a good or bad omen’ (to do so-and-so).
a1903Mod. You should never put boots on the table: it's bad luck.
2. a. Good fortune; success, prosperity or advantage coming by chance rather than as the consequence of merit or effort. Phr. to have the luck = to be so fortunate as (to be or do something). † to have no luck to: to be unfortunate in.
14..Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 38 Wher-for lucke and good hansselle my hert y sende you. a1480Promp. Parv. (Winchester MS.) 316/2 Luk, lucrum. [So Camb. MS. and ed. Pynson; Harl. MS. reads (prob. correctly) Lukre or wynnynge, lucrum.] 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 46 That neidfull war thai wantit thair nothing, At thair lyking, with greit larges and luke [rime instruct]. 1583Hollyband Campo di Fior 145 No man can have luck alwayes at playe. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. v. i. 439 If we haue vnearned lucke, Now to scape the Serpents tongue. a1656Hales Gold. Rem. (1688) 348 Only plutarch, whatever the matter is has no luck to the latin, and therefore I would advise you either to read him in French or in English. 1661Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 36 A hint, which..I have since had the luck to improve sufficiently. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 329 How he was flogged, or had the luck to escape. 1835W. Irving Tour Prairies 164 One of the rangers, however, had little luck to boast of, his horse having taken fright..thrown his rider, and escaped. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxviii. 374, I have been off with a party..on a hunt inland. We had no great luck. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt (1868) 20 Like most energetic natures, he had a strong faith in his luck. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §1. 350 Catherine Parr, had the luck to outlive the King. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq., With Children of Israel i, The luck had failed, the mines had petered out. 1891N. Gould Double Event 8 At cards, Captain Drayton seemed to have the ‘devil's own luck’.
†b. (one's) luck of: (one's) good fortune in obtaining. Obs.
1762–71H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) I. 104 A man, whose luck of fame was derived from all the circumstances which he himself reckoned unfortunate.
c. A piece of luck or good-fortune. ? Sc.
1856Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 289 It was a luck for me yesterday..that I had these live things to look after.
¶d. occas. In appellations of objects on which the prosperity of a family, etc., is supposed to depend.
This use originates with ‘The Luck of Eden Hall’, which is an oriental glass goblet (of the 15th c. or earlier) in the possession of the Musgraves of Eden, Cumberland, so called from a superstition embodied in the words, ‘If this glass will break or fall, Farewell the luck of Eden-hall’.
a1800Ballad in Lysons Britannia IV. Cumb. (1816) p. ccix, God prosper long from being broke The Luck of Eden-hall. 1842Longfellow (title) The Luck of Edenhall [transl. from Uhland]. 1870B. Harte (title) The Luck of Roaring Camp. 1901E. F. Benson Luck of Vails 16 When the Luck of the Vails is lost, Fear not fire nor rain nor frost.
3. a. Phrases. as (good, ill) luck would have it: by (good, ill) fortune; bad luck to (a person or thing)!: a vulgar form of imprecation, expressive of ill-will, disgust, or disappointment; best of Arab (or Welsh) luck: cf. British a. 6; better luck another (or next) time: an expression of encouragement to endure a disappointment; devil's own luck: uncannily good luck; down on (occas. in) one's luck: in ill-luck, in misfortune (slang); for luck: in order to bring good luck (expressing the purpose of some superstitious action); in luck: fortunate, enjoying good luck; good luck to (a person or thing): see good luck; just my (or his, our, etc.) luck: typical of my (his, our) bad luck, or occas., of my good luck; (one's) luck is in, or is/runs out: luck is on one's side, or, one has come to the end of one's run of luck; luck of the draw: an expression of resignation to chance; no such (good) luck: the thing is beyond the power even of good fortune, unfortunately not; out of luck: having bad luck, in misfortune; push (or crowd, ride) one's luck: to expect or count on an even better run of good fortune than one has had already; cf. to push one's fortune (push v. 11 b); † to strike (a person) luck: see strike v.; to try one's luck: see try v.; † upon luck's head: on chance (obs. Sc.); worse luck = unfortunately, ‘more's the pity’ (colloq.); you can never know your luck: you cannot be sure that luck won't change for the better, you may be lucky. For run, stroke of luck, see the ns.
1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. v. 83 As good lucke would haue it..they conuey'd me into a bucke basket. 1637Rutherford Lett. i. xli. (1675) 87, I would believe in the Dark upon Luck's head, and take my hazard of Christ's goodwill. 1680A. Radcliffe in Rochester Poems 147 As luck wou'd have it in came Will. 1687J. Philips tr. M. de Cervantes's Don Quixote I. i. ii. 9 As ill luck would have it, it happen'd to be upon a Friday Night. 1789Wolcot (P. Pindar) Sir J. Banks & Emp. of Mor. 17 Quite out of breath, and out of luck. 1849Thackeray Pendennis lxi, The Chevalier was..to use his own picturesque expression..‘down on his luck’. 1854E. Twisleton Let. 29 June (1928) 213 They..asked us to a dinner a fortnight off, when as ill-luck would have it, we were engaged. 1855F. W. Faber Growth in Holiness xvi. 297 When we fall we must rise again, and go on our way, wishing ourselves, after a Christian fashion, better luck another time. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, By Jove, Flashey, your young friend's in luck. 1857C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace II. xii. 176 ‘When you break down anywhere, send me a telegraph.’ ‘No such good luck,’ sighed Clara. 1858Trollope Dr. Thorne II. iv. 74 No harm had been done, and he might have better luck next time. 1861C. M. Yonge Young Step-Mother xvii. 234 He..should see enough of him when Mr. Hope came, worse luck. 1862W. Collins No Name I. i. xi. 150 All he ever said was better luck next time. 1867F. Francis Angling vi. (1880) 233 Like a dissipated house-fly out of luck. c1874D. Boucicault in M. R. Booth Eng. Plays of 19th Cent. (1969) II. 190 Well, as the divil's luck would have it, there was only..a tailor's thimble, an' they couldn't get it full. 1876C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 185 A clever rogue momentarily down on his luck. 1882R. Burton in Athenæum No. 2880. 11/3 The miner down in his luck. 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. iii. xv, There are some of Flint's hands aboard; worse luck for the rest of us. 1884Jessopp in 19th Cent. Mar. 402 Labour is scarce and he is down in his luck. 1891E. Dowson Let. 30 June (1967) 205, I came here..& found as luck would have it a Rosière going on. 1892R. L. Stevenson Let. 29 May (1911) IV. 54 No such luck; the ship delayed, and at last, about three, I had to send them home again. 1894G. S. Layard Tennyson & Pre-Raphaelite Illustr. iv. 45 Oriana ties her kerchief round the wings of her lover's helmet, whilst he strings his bow for luck against her foot. 1898J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 29 Well, yer never know yer luck; an' his was 'ard enuff, Gawd knows. 1900Blackw. Mag. July 99/1, I was in luck when I tumbled amongst them. 1901Ade Forty Mod. Fables 156 Adams had a Run of Luck and he crowded it. 1902A. E. W. Mason Four Feathers xxiii. 227, I, worse luck, was not one of them. 1903G. B. Shaw Man & Superman i. 21 ‘She'll marry you.’.. ‘No such luck, Jack!’ 1907― John Bull's Other Island iv. 82 He has the divil's own luck, that Englishman, annyway. 1909Galsworthy Strife i. 195 Just our luck, the men finding a fanatical firebrand like Roberts for leader. a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) II. xxi. 494 Don't be a fool. Let's push our luck, now that things are coming our way. 1916A. Bennett These Twain iii. xx. 488 You never know your luck. If she'd been free I might have been fool enough to get married. 1923Brewer's Dict. Phr. & Fable (new ed.) 689/1 He has..the devil's own luck, he is extraordinarily lucky; everything he touches turns to gold. 1926J. Buchan Dancing Floor i. ii. 53 Something about the features..struck me as familiar. As luck would have it, it turned out to be Vernon. 1927E. O'Neill Marco Millions i. iii. 45 Better luck next time. He'll learn! 1928― Strange Interlude viii. 274 The damned radio has to pick out this time to go dead!.. Just my luck! a1930D. H. Lawrence Phoenix II (1968) 146 Gilbert at her side took step after step, and thought to himself his luck was out as regards women. 1938R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 60 Just my luck to be caught in a thunderstorm. 1938G. Greene Brighton Rock iii. i. 99 ‘You ever come across this Kolley Kibber?’ she asked. ‘No such luck,’ the barman said. 1956J. Potts Diehard vii. 116 He paused. Was he pushing his luck too far? 1959‘J. Welcome’ Stop at Nothing i. 11 He had never won the Derby and..had..announced that he would not die until he did. As he must by now be touching eighty.., this was pushing his luck pretty hard. 1963A. Smith Throw out Two Hands vii. 79 If our luck was in we might hit Madagascar, but there is quite enough luck needed in ballooning without attempting to stretch it, and to hope for a landfall on a solitary island. 1966‘S. Harvester’ Treacherous Road xix. 183 And the best of Arab luck to you, mate. 1966M. R. D. Foot SOE in France x. 341 Cinema-phono had never been a lucky circuit, and its luck now ran out altogether. 1967Listener 23 Nov. 667/2 As luck, or history, if you like, would have it, the Russian Revolution coincided with the spread..of wireless telegraphy. 1967‘J. Ashford’ Forget what you Saw iii. 14 You never know your luck—one of these days we might actually set sail. 1967M. Childs Taint of Innocence (1968) iii. 177 ‘It's so unfair.’ ‘Well, the luck of the draw.’ 1969‘A. Garve’ Boomerang iii. 132 ‘Anything else?’ ‘I don't think so—Except to wish you the best of Welsh luck!’ 1970N. Marsh When in Rome v. 127 Don't tell me you are the Lord Chamberlain... It would have been just my luck. 1972M. Babson Murder on Show v. 58 My luck was in and I caught a taxi. 1973‘H. Howard’ Highway to Murder iii. 37 Some say first impressions are best. Mine have been wrong as often as they've been right, so I guess it's the luck of the draw. 1974I. Murdoch Sacred & Profane Love Machine 75 If I..was never heard of again. Thank you very much! No such luck! 1975J. Symons Three Pipe Problem xv. 131 You ain't going to find no killer... I reckon this is some amateur riding his luck.
†b. luck in a bag. A name for some (? swindling) contrivance resembling a lucky-bag, in which the prizes were few. Hence, a rare piece of good luck, an unlikely or unexpected stroke of luck.
1649Lightfoot Battle w. Wasps Nest Wks. 1825 I. 405 It was luck in a bag then, that he that is so direct in all his gospel from end to end, as never to change one story out of its proper time and place, should do it here to serve Mr. Heming's turn so pat. 1701Walk to Smith-field in G. Daniel Merrie Eng. xx. (1874) 273 The spectators were shuffled together like little boxes in a sharper's Luck-in-a-bag. 1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 8 Sept., You have luck indeed; and luck in a bag. What a devil is that eight shilling tea-kettle? copper, or tin japanned? It is like your Irish politeness, raffling for tea-kettles.
†4. A sign of future (good or ill) luck; an omen.
[1548Elyot Dict., Omen, the lucke of some thynge to come, gathered of some woorde or saiyng before spoken.] 1570Levins Manip. 184/2 Lucke, fortuna, omen. c1600A. Home in Bellenden's Livy v. (1822) 479 The quhilk voice being herd abroad,..the senate did think the samin to be the luck and presage of sum thing to come.
5. attrib. and Comb.: luck-money = next; luck-penny, a piece of money given or kept ‘for luck’; a certain sum which local custom prescribes to be returned by the seller to the buyer, esp. in the sale of live-stock; † luck-sign, an augury; † luck-stroken a., ? having received the luck-penny.
1877N. & Q. 5th Ser. VII. 488 In all agricultural dealings connected with cattle or corn it is customary when receiving payments to return a small sum to the customer, which is termed ‘*luck money’. 1898Daily News 17 Aug. 2/7 The butchers assert that luck money was customarily granted in Lincoln until the auction system was started.
1788Burns Let. to Mrs. Dunlop 2 Aug., I am, indeed, seriously angry with you at the quantum of your *luckpenny. 1823Scott Fam. Lett. 8 Jan. (1894) II. xix. 162 Builders..have drain'd my purse, otherwise the luck penny should have been better worth your acceptance. 1824Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 262 All the savings of a month, the hoarded halfpence, the new farthings, the very luck-penny, go off in fumo on that night. 1890Times 25 Feb. 10/1 The defendant bought a hunter for {pstlg}100 from the plaintiff and received back {pstlg}5 ‘luck penny’.
1587Golding De Mornay xxxiii. 621 He tooke a *Lucksigne at the sight of a Lyonnesse [Fr. Il prend augure d'vne Lyonne].
1597Bp. Hall Sat. ii. v. 17 Go take possession of the church-porch-doore, And ring thy bels; *luck stroken in thy fist, The parsonage is thine or ere thou wist.
▪ II. luck, v.
[? a. Du. lukken, f. luk luck n. (But possibly an Eng. formation, though in our quots. appearing earlier than the vb.)]
1. a. intr. To chance, happen. Usu. with defining adv.: To turn out well, ill, etc., to have (good or bad) luck. Also impers. (with or without it). Obs. exc. dial.
14..Billa posita super hostium majoris in Hartshorne Metr. T. 225 See wich a scrowe is set on thie gate Warning the of harde Happes For and it lukke thou shalt have swappes. 1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 35 Whan it so lucked that we toke an oxe or a cowe. a1547Surrey æneid ii. 494 Our first labor thus lucked well with us. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. ix. 218 With thame of Cathnes lucket sa il, that [etc.]. 1601Ogle Vere's Parlie at Ostend in Sir F. Vere's Comm. 144 The first (and that is the word) it lucked well, judging the fact by the event. 1681Flatman Heracl. Ridens No. 14 (1713) I. 92 They that Addressed were the only Freeborn English, and they that did not Address, were to be Slaves to them, if they had luck't right. 1810J. Cock Strains ii. 65 (E.D.D.) Lat me tell ye, thro' the week Your wark wad luck the better.
b. To be lucky, prosper, succeed. Obs. exc. dial.
a1584Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 643 Thocht thay now, I say now, To hazard hes na hart; Ȝit luck we, and pluck we The fruit, they would haue part. 1877G. Fraser Wigtown 212 Ill-gotten gear can never luck.
c. With upon: To hit upon by chance; to chance to find or meet with.
1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 35 Whereas there be so many thousand words in the world, and that he should luck upon the right one. a1683Oldham Art Poetry, Some New Pieces (1684) 30 When such a lewd, incorrigible sot Lucks by meer chance upon some happy thought. 1712Oldisworth Odes of Horace ii. 27/1 The most Renowned Thomas Gale..has luckt upon another Interpretation. 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues 376 Luck up on: get by luck, come into possession of unexpectedly. 1962E. Lacy Freeloaders i. 9 This is the best writing pad I've ever lucked up on. 1971Black World Apr. 56 All of em hopin to luck up on a few grand by hittin on me. 1973Black Panther 29 Sept. 2/3 Riggs happened to luck up on a good hustle by attacking women's rights in tennis.
d. With inf.: To chance, to have the good luck (to do something). Obs. exc. dial.
1724Ramsay Lochaber No More iii, If I should luck to come gloriously hame. 1787W. Taylor Scots Poems 103 Gin I shou'd luck to get a plummy sowd.
e. to luck out (U.S.), to achieve success or advantage by good luck in a difficult, testing, or dangerous situation.
1954Amer. Speech XXIX. 303 He lucked out on the final examination... I just ‘lucked out’ on that shot... He really ‘lucked out’. He didn't get any Saturday classes. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 7 May vi. 8/4 If you luck out, good. If not, you've still got your original bookings. 1971J. Ball First Team (1972) xxi. 317 Since we pretty much had to choose one from one..it looks as if we lucked out. 1972J. Wambaugh Blue Knight (1973) ii. 22, I started making inquiries..and damned if I didn't luck out and get steered into a good job.
f. to luck into, to acquire by good fortune.
1959Time (Atlantic ed.) 6 July 15/1 Loveless..lucked into booming revenues from old taxes as..Iowa expanded. 1966S. Morrow Moonlighters (1967) ix. 98 He lucked into a prime location there. 1970J. Potts Affair of Heart viii. 63 The rent was fantastically low; she had lucked into it a couple of years ago through an artist friend.
†2. trans. To bring good luck to. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 615/2, I lucke one, I make hym luckye or happye, je heure. He is a happy person, for he lucketh every place he commeth in.
▪ III. luck
dial. form of lock n.1 (sense 2). |