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fluke

[flook]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

the part of an anchor that catches in the ground, especially the flat triangular piece at the end of each arm.

a barb, or the barbed head, of a harpoon, spear, arrow, or the like.

either half of the triangular tail of a whale.

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Origin:
1555–65; perhaps special use of fluke³

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Fluke is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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Example Sentences

It is easy to sympathize with fishermen who say that there are still plenty of fluke out there.

Elsewhere in the region, re-election may start to become a habit, not a fluke.

Even more remarkable, his mummification was a total fluke.

EXPAND

It is easy to sympathize with fishermen who say that there are still plenty of fluke out there.

Elsewhere in the region, re-election may start to become a habit, not a fluke.

Even more remarkable, his mummification was a total fluke.

Seismologists debate whether the recent spate of megaquakes is a statistical fluke or something more.

The signal is much more likely to be a fluke than anything else.

There is local fluke tossed with herbs and pickled pineapple, silky and difficult not to bolt.

Monarchos was more a one-race fluke than a true champion.

For though the path was certain, it was in no way protected from danger or fluke.

There is about a one in a thousand chance that this observation is a fluke.

If it were a one-time thing, we'd chalk it up to a fluke.

All that kept him balanced was the fluke of a weaker current.

They had caught one fluke by the time the waves hit, sending them overboard.

The sisters' first foray into crafting coral was a fluke of sorts.

The rapidity of its emergence suggests it was no fluke and could arise on other worlds, too.

The fluke was five inches long, twice as big as its two-and-a-half-inch roll of rice.

There was also so much of it in their bones that it is near impossible that the tetracycline-laced beer was a fluke event.

After all, a tapeworm or a liver fluke wants its host to live up to the name and keep the boarders well fed.

Believe he notest a model of a whale fluke and thought the sculpture had made a mistake with the bumps on the leading edge.

There were the impossibly thin slices of fluke laid in a shimmering circle, the first course in omakase, chef's choice.

She had an enlarged toe, but doctors said it could be a fluke that no one had noticed before.

They told me it was a fluke and unlikely to happen again.

It is also possible, the researchers said, that the findings are a statistical fluke.

The first time he does this in a game, and makes it, opposing coaches and players think it must be a fluke.

Eventually through a fluke almost as gratuitous as the killing itself, they captured the murderers.

Yet this therapy might never have been pursued were it not for a fluke discovery that made patenting possible.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

an accidental advantage; stroke of good luck: He got the job by a fluke.

an accident or chance happening.

an accidentally successful stroke, as in billiards.

Origin:
1855–60; of obscure origin; compare dial. fluke a guess

noun

any of several American flounders of the genus Paralichthys, especially P. dentatus, found in the Atlantic Ocean.

any of various other flatfishes.

a trematode.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English flok(e), fluke, Old English flōc; cognate with Old Norse flōki; compare Old High German flah flat (German flach)

Related forms

fluke·less, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To fluke

Collins

World English Dictionary

fluke¹ (fluːk)

—n
1.	Also called: flue a flat bladelike projection at the end of the arm of an anchor
2.	either of the two lobes of the tail of a whale or related animal
3.	Also called: flue the barb or barbed head of a harpoon, arrow, etc

[C16: perhaps a special use of fluke³ (in the sense: a flounder)]

fluke² (fluːk)

—n
1.	an accidental stroke of luck
2.	any chance happening

—vb
3.	(tr) to gain, make, or hit by a fluke

[C19: of unknown origin]

fluke³ (fluːk)

—n
1.	any parasitic flatworm, such as the blood fluke and liver fluke, of the classes Monogenea and Digenea (formerly united in a single class Trematoda)
2.	another name for flounder

[Old English flōc; related to Old Norse flōki flounder, Old Saxon flaka sole, Old High German flah smooth]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

fluke

"flat end of an arm of an anchor," 1560s, perhaps from fluke (3) on resemblance of shape, or from L.Ger. flügel "wing." Meaning "whale's tail" (in plural, flukes) is 1725.

EXPAND

fluke

"lucky chance," 1857, originally a lucky shot at billiards, of uncertain origin.

fluke

"flatfish," O.E. floc "flatfish," related to O.N. floke "flatfish," flak "disk, floe" (see flake). The parasite worm (1668) so called from resemblance of shape.

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

fluke ¹ (fl&oomacr;k)
n.
See trematode.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

fluke (fl

k) Pronunciation Key

Either of the two flattened fins of a whale's tail.
See trematode.

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