▪ I. lucky, n.1 Sc.
(ˈlʌkɪ)
Also luckie.
[? f. lucky a. 6.]
A familiar name for an elderly woman; spec. a grandmother. (Used as a form of address, and prefixed as a title to the proper name.) Also applied, jocularly or affectionately, to a woman of any age; a wife, mistress, etc. b. spec. The mistress of an ale-house, a landlady.
| 1717 Ramsay Elegy on Lucky Wood 30 Poor facers now may chew pea-hools, Since Lucky's dead. 1725 ― Gentle Sheph. ii. iii. (init.), How does auld honest lucky of the glen? 1770 Bp. Forbes Jrnl. (1886) 324 We dined at Lucky Mac Fun's. a 1794 Lass of Ecclefechan ii. in Burns' Wks., O haud your tongue now, Luckie Laing. ― Lady Onlie i. ibid., Lady Onlie, honest Lucky, Brews guid ale at shore o' Bucky. 1816 Scott Antiq. iv, I said to Luckie Gemmels, ‘Never think you, Luckie’, said I. 1827 Watt Poems 56 (E.D.D.) Gin the kye o' milk be dryin', Some luckie's been her cantrips tryin'. 1857 Stewart Character 145 (E.D.D.) The gawcy change-house luckies lauch and mulct the drunken fule. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 134 Alan..must..carry on to the new luckie with the old story. |
▪ II. lucky, n.2 slang.
(ˈlʌkɪ)
In phr. to cut or make one's lucky: to get away, escape, decamp.
| 1834 M. M. G. Dowling Othello Travestie i. ii. 7 He's in such a rage—you'd better cut your lucky. 1837 Dickens Pickw. x, Wot's the use o' runnin' arter a man as has made his lucky, and got to t'other end of the Borough by this time. 1859 Lever Davenport Dunn xiv. 119 Simpson, of the Bays, has cut his lucky this morning. |
▪ III. lucky, a.
(ˈlʌkɪ)
Also 6 luckye, lukie, lukky, 6–7 luckie.
[f. luck n. + -y1.]
1. Of persons: Having, or attended by, good luck. In early use often, Fortunate, successful, prosperous. Now with narrower meaning: Favoured by chance; successful through causes other than one's own action or merit.
| 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 159 God Almyghty yeue you parte of his saluacion and make you lukky. 1530 Tindale Gen. xxxix. 2 And the Lorde was with Ioseph, and he was a luckie felowe. 1552 Latimer Serm. Lincolnsh. i. (1562) 68 And therefore there is a common sayinge The more wicked, the more lucky. 1624 Gataker Transubst. 120 He never is luckie in the framing of his consequences. 1625 Bacon Ess., Negotiating (Arb.) 89 Vse also such, as haue beene Luckie and Preuailed before in Things wherein you haue Emploied them. 1641 J. Jackson True Evang. T. ii. 96 It is part of the description of a lucky, and prosperous man, that his Cow calveth. 1827 Scott Two Drovers ii, Wakefield was lucky enough to find a chap for a part of his drove. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 183 A dexterous and lucky player. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xiii, He must be a luckier man than you are. |
† b. Of a person: Having the knack of success; ‘handy’ (Davies). Obs.
| 1703 S. Centlivre Love's Contriv. i. Wks. 1761 II. 19 You used to be a lucky Rogue upon a Pinch. |
c. Of actions or experiences: Attended by good luck.
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Pref. 10 Whose fortunate and luckye spede in all hys woorthye entrepryses. 1548 Lady Eliz. Howard Let. to Q. Dowager Parr, Praying the Almighty God to send you a most lucky deliverance [in childbirth]. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 184 b, Geuing thankes to his god, for that lucky successe. 1697 Dryden æneid ix. 454 Ev'n then he dreamt of Drink and lucky Play. 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. (1849) I. 62 There are instances of reason and real prudence preventing men's undertaking what, it hath appeared afterwards, they might have succeeded in by a lucky rashness. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 699 And what's good judgement but a lucky guess? 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 537 Less lucky her home-voyage. |
d. Of a literary composition: Having an unstudied or unsought felicity.
| 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 6 There is more Wit in disguising a Thought of Mr. Lock's, than in a lucky Translation of a Passage from Horace. 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Cowley, He has no elegance either lucky or elaborate. Ibid., Waller, Genius now and then produces a lucky trifle. We still read the Dove of Anacreon, and Sparrow of Catullus. |
e. lucky him (or lucky you, etc.): phrases expressing envy at another's good fortune.
| 1857 C. M. Yonge Dynevor Terrace II. xi. 171 She's..the finest figure in the whole county; lucky him who gets her. Ibid. xii. 176 Lucky you to have work at home, and to stay with it. 1893 W. Elwin Let. 4 May in E. Lutyens Blessed Girl (1953) x. 190 Lucky you to be mothered by Betty. 1965 A. Roudybush Season for Death (1966) xxviii. 165 ‘I'm going to the flicks.’ ‘Lucky you. God bless!’ 1972 R. Hill Fairly Dangerous Thing i. iv. 36 ‘I'm busy every night but tonight.’ ‘Lucky you,’ said Joe. |
2. Of events or circumstances: Of the nature of good luck; occurring by chance and producing happy results.
| a 1547 Surrey Praise of meane & constant estate in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 28 When lucky gale of winde All thy puft sailes shall fil. 1653 Walton Angler xi. 207 Well met, Gentlemen, this is luckie that we meet so just together at this very door. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. v, By the luckiest chance in the world, I had not discharged myself of any part of it. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 192 ¶2 His heir..sometimes by a wealthy marriage, sometimes by lucky legacies, discharged part of the encumbrances. 1796 Jane Austen Pride & Prej. x. (1813) 213 This was a lucky recollection—it saved her from something like regret. |
3. With superstitious reference: Presaging or likely to promote good luck; well-omened. Often applied to objects carried as charms, as in lucky penny, lucky sixpence (usually one bent or perforated; sometimes an old or foreign coin), lucky stone (often, one with a natural hole through it: see E.D.D.).
lucky day, etc. may be used also in sense 1 c.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Cor. 44 With all good and luckye woordes, blessed..bee God. 1555 Bradford Let. in Foxe A. & M. (1583) II. 1632/1 Looke not vppon these dayes..as dismall dayes..but rather as lucky dayes. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 252 That his good receipt Shall for my legacie be sanctified By the luckiest stars in heauen. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair ii. ii, They say, a Fool's hansel is lucky. 1637 Milton Lycidas 20 So may som gentle Muse With lucky words favour my destin'd Urn. 1718 Freethinker No. 62. 46 Sneezing..might be interpreted Lucky, or Unlucky, according to the Occasions. 1727 Pope Th. Var. Subjects in Swift's Wks. (1755) II. i. 231 Augustus meeting an ass with a lucky name foretold himself good fortune. 1792 W. Roberts Looker-on No. 22 (1797) I. 332 It has often happened..that a dream, by presenting to the imagination a lucky number, has induced a poor man to commit himself in the lottery. 1819 Crabbe T. of Hall xix, She praised her lucky stars, that in her place She never found neglect, nor felt disgrace. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xxxii, Mr. Guppy nods, and gives him a ‘lucky touch’. 1855 Queen Victoria Life Highlands 10 Sept. (1868) 105 The new house seems to be lucky, indeed; for, from the first moment of our arrival, we have had good news. 1905 A. Burvenich Eng. Idioms 219 To be born under a lucky star. 1911 C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xxxv. 317 The Australian should probably thank Providence and his lucky star. 1920 W. J. Locke House of Baltazar xv. 187 It doesn't seem to be one of the House of Baltazar's lucky days. 1959 J. Braine Vodi xxv. 261 Thank your lucky stars to be well out of it. 1973 A. Behrend Samarai Affair xii. 115 Richardson wondered if this was going to be his lucky day. |
4. Occurring by chance; depending on chance; casual, fortuitous. rare.
| 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 23 It were beyond the Possibility of the Wit of Man to perswade him that this was done by the temerarious dashes of an unguided Pen..or by the lucky Projection of so many Letters at all adventures. 1701 Rowe Ambit. Step-Moth. i. i, My Royal Mistress Artemisa's Fate, And all her Son young Artaban's high hopes Hang on this lucky Crisis. 1836 Emerson Nat., Lang. Wks. (Bohn) II. 150 There is nothing lucky or capricious in these analogies..they are constant, and pervade nature. |
5. dial. Used to indicate an amount not less, and usually greater, than what is actually stated; full, good. (For this and other dialect uses of the word, consult the Eng. Dial. Dict.)
| 1649 Last Sp. Visct. Kenmure in Sel. Biog. (Wodrow Soc. 1845) I. 384 God..plucked them from their deceiving hopes, before they got half a bellyful, yea, or a lucky mouthful of the world. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize II. xxxii. 315 The sun has been set a lucky hour. 1828 J. Ruddiman Tales Sc. Par. (1889) 125, I aye had my doubts..o' cats in general, for the lucky half o' them are but handmaidens to witches. |
6. Sc. Used as a term or address of endearment, esp. to a woman. [Cf. Icel. heill good luck, ‘in mod. usage as a term of endearment’ (Vigfusson).] Hence lucky-dad, -daddy, a grandfather; lucky-minny (-minnie), a grandmother. (Cf. lucky n.1)
| a 1555 Lyndesay in Bannatyne Poems (Hunter. Club) 465 [Cotter addressing his wife] Ye gaif me leif, fair lucky dame. 1721 Kelly Scot. Prov. 164 Ha'd your Feet, luckie daddie, old Folk are not feery. 1742 Forbes Ajax Sp. etc. Jrnl. (1755) 30 Lucky-minny. a 1758 Ramsay Fox turned Preacher 36 'Tis cruel, and a cruelty By which we are expos'd (O sad!) To eat perhaps our lucky dad. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xlvii, The bits o' bairns, puir things, are wearying to see their luckie-dad. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Lucky minie's lines, the long stems of the sea-plant Chorda filum. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer xxiii. (1870) 150 That auld luckie-minnie o' his. |
7. Comb., as lucky-starred adj.; lucky dip: see dip n. 1 h; lucky dog, someone considered by others to be lucky; lucky-proach Sc. = father-lasher.
| 1841 S. Bamford Passages in Life of Radical (ed. 2) I. xxix. 175 They were a set of ‘lucky dogs’... They escaped. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xii, He has come into his property... He's a lucky dog. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 634 You were a lucky dog if they didn't set the terrier at you directly you got back. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes I. 63 Father-Lasher, Long-Spined Cottus. Lucky Proach. Scotland. 1876 Patmore The Rosy Bosom'd Hours 3 He lock'd us in, ah, lucky-starr'd. |
Add: [4.] b. With connotations of improbability: (esp. of a person) unexpectedly or exceptionally fortunate. Usu. as an ironic or resigned comment on an aim or hope unlikely to be fulfilled, as in phrs. I'll (you'll, etc.) be lucky and varr. (often foll. by if with finite verb or to with infinitive); I (you, etc.) should be so lucky (cf. shall v. B. II. 18 d).
| 1762 T. Sterne Tristram Shandy vi. xviii. 44 When he gets these breeches made,..he'll look like a beast in 'em... And 'twill be lucky if thats the worst on't, added my father. It will be very lucky, answered my mother. 1888 Times 6 Sept. 3/2 He will be lucky if he escapes with six months, ‘sharpened’ by one fast day a month. 1919 G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House Pref. p. xliv, When he [sc. a millionaire] has paid his income tax and super tax, and insured his life for the amount of his death duties, he is lucky if his net income is {pstlg}10,000. 1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier vi. 100 If he were, say, an Indian or Japanese coolie,..he wouldn't get fifteen shillings a week—he would be lucky if he got fifteen shillings a month. 1955 J. Morrison Black Cargo 14 It will need only one shout of ‘Sniper!’ and Lamond will be lucky to get out without being knocked down. 1958 P. Larkin Let. 16 Dec. in A. Thwaite Sel. Lett. Philip Larkin (1992) 296 [I am] being hessled by the record makers, who want {pstlg}50 down. They'll be lucky. 1973 E. Schumacher Small is Beautiful iii. iv. 195 What proportion of national income..can one reasonably expect to be available for..job creation? I would say..you are lucky if you can make it five per cent. 1986 More (N.Z.) Feb. 48/1, I said, ‘And I want back pay.’ And they said, ‘Ooh, you'll be lucky.’ 1989 Guardian 22 Nov. ii. 42/8 Some men are very vulnerable when it comes to sex. They go around joking with friends: ‘I should be so lucky.’ |