potluck
UK /ˌpɒtˈlʌk/ · US /ˈpɑtˌlʌk/ noun, verb
Forms potlucks potlucking potlucked pot luck pot-luck
- noun (dated) A meal, especially one offered to a guest, consisting of whatever food is available. “Here are some leftover beans and meat; we can make a good potluck stew from them.”
- noun (by extension) Whatever is available in a particular situation.
- noun (originally Canada, US) A shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought (sometimes without prior arrangement); a potlatch; also, a dish of food brought to such a meal.
- noun (obsolete) The last draft or portion of an alcoholic beverage in a pot or other drinking vessel.
- verb (intransitive) To take part in a potluck, where each participant brings a meal to be shared by all.
Synonyms
Etymology
From pot + luck. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, sense 3 (“a shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought”) is unlikely to have been influenced by potlatch.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “potluck”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details