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luck (lŭk)
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n.
1. The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events; fortune: They met one day out of pure luck.
2. Good fortune or prosperity; success: We wish you luck.
3. One's personal fate or lot: It was just my luck to win a trip I couldn't take.
intr.v. lucked, luck·ing, lucks
Informal
To gain success or something desirable by chance: lucked into a good apartment; lucked out in finding that rare book.
Idioms:
as luck would have it
As it turned out; as it happened: As luck would have it, it rained the day of the picnic.
in luck
Enjoying success; fortunate.
out of luck
Lacking good fortune.
press/push (one's) luck
To risk one's good fortune, often by acting overconfidently.
try (one's) luck
To attempt something without knowing if one will be successful.
[Middle English lucke, from Middle Dutch luc, short for gheluc; akin to Middle High German gelücke (source of modern German Glück, happiness, luck), and Middle Low German gelükke, luck, all perhaps from Old Low Fraconian *galukki : *ga-, prefix forming collective nouns of result + *-lukki, of unknown origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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