raffle

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹæfl̩/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -æfəl

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”).

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.
3. (Philippines, law) The system by which cases are assigned to judges in multi-sala courts.

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

See raff.

raffle (uncountable)

1. refuse; rubbish

• farfel, laffer