raffle

See also: Raffle

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹæfl̩/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æfəl

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”).

Noun

raffle (plural raffles)

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. (obsolete) A game of dice in which the player who throws three of the same number wins all the stakes.

Derived terms

• chook raffle
• couldn't organise a two-ticket raffle
• meat raffle
• raffle sale

 

Translations

drawing

• Bulgarian: томбола (bg) f (tombola)
• Catalan: rifa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 抽彩 (zh) (chōucǎi)

• Danish: tombola c
• Finnish: arpajaiset (fi), arvonta (fi)
• French: tombola (fr) f
• Galician: bisbís m, rifa f
• German: Tombola (de) f, Verlosung (de) f
• Hebrew: הַגְרָלָה (he) f (hagralá)
• Hungarian: tombola (hu), sorsolás (hu), sorsjáték (hu)
• Italian: estrazione (it) f, estrazione a premi f, lotteria (it) f, estrazione del lotto f, riffa (it) f
• Japanese: 抽選 (ja) (ちゅうせん, chūsen)
• Maori: rāwhara
• Polish: losowanie (pl) n
• Portuguese: rifa (pt) f
• Russian: лотере́я (ru) f (lotɛréja)
• Scottish Gaelic: rafail f
• Spanish: rifa (es) f, mita (es) f
• Swedish: utlottning (sv) c, tombola (sv) c
• Tagalog: ripa
• Vietnamese: xổ số (vi)

Verb

raffle (third-person singular simple present raffles, present participle raffling, simple past and past participle raffled)

1. (transitive, often with off) To award something by means of a raffle or random drawing.

   They raffled off four gift baskets.

2. (intransitive) To participate in a raffle.

   to raffle for a watch

Translations

to award by means of a raffle

• Catalan: rifar (ca)
• Finnish: arpoa (fi)
• French: mettre en tombola
• German: verlosen (de)
• Hungarian: kisorsol (hu)
• Italian: arriffare
• Maori: rāwhara
• Portuguese: rifar (pt)
• Spanish: rifar (es)
• Swedish: lotta ut (sv), utlotta (sv)

Etymology 2

See raff.

Noun

raffle (uncountable)

1. refuse; rubbish

Anagrams

• farfel, laffer