pl.n. (
used with a singular or plural verb)
1. A contest, often promoting a product or service, in which participants enter without paying to win usually one of several prizes. Winners are selected at random from the pool of entrants.
2. a. A lottery in which the participants' contributions form a fund that is awarded as a prize to one or several winners.
b. An event or contest, especially a horserace, the result of which determines the winner of such a lottery.
c. The prize won in such a lottery.
[Originally
a contest in which the winner or winners take all the stakes contributed by the competitors, from
Early Modern English, a person who wins all the stakes in a game, a clean sweep :
SWEEP +
STAKE.]