Word of the Day Archive
Friday January 10, 2003
lucre \LOO-kuhr\
, noun:
Monetary gain; profit; riches; money; -- often in a bad sense.
His stories began to be published in the American Mercury before he moved to L.A., lured by the dream of Hollywood lucre.
-- Jerome Boyd Maunsell, "Truly madly weepy", Times (London), June 10, 2000
They ought to feel a calling for service rather than lucre.
-- Sin-Ming Shaw, "It's Time to Get Real", Time Asia, July 1, 2002
But surely there are other motives for writing, and they range from the desire for filthy lucre to the pleasure in doing the thing itself to the impulse to delight readers.
-- Robert Alter, "The Western Canon: The Books and School of the Ages", New Republic, October 10, 1994
Picture the place where you grew up. Now, imagine it trampled by an avalanche of capital and the stampede of lucre-crazed hordes chasing after it.
-- Katharine Mieszkowski, "I Want to Blow Up Silicon Valley", Salon, July 14, 2000
Lucre comes from Latin lucrum, "gain, profit." It is related to lucrative, "profitable."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for lucre
