different between available vs potluck

English

Etymology

avail +? -able

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ve?l?b(?)l/

Adjective

available (comparative more available, superlative most available)

1. Such as one may avail oneself of; capable of being used for the accomplishment of a purpose.

2. Readily obtainable.

3. (law) Valid.

4. (archaic) Having sufficient power, force, or efficacy to achieve the purpose; availing, effective.
5. Free to meet someone, speak on the telephone, enter a romantic relationship, or the like.

Synonyms

• (such as can be availed of): usable, profitable, advantageous; vacant (of a location)
• (legally valid): effectual, valid

Antonyms

• (such as can be availed of): unavailable

Derived terms

• availability
• unavailable

Translations

English

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 even though it has the same meaning.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?t?l?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?t?l?k/, /-?l?k/, /?p?t?l?k/
• Rhymes: -?k (some pronunciations)
• Hyphenation: pot?luck

Noun

potluck (countable and uncountable, plural potlucks) (also attributively)

1. (dated) A meal, especially one offered to a guest, consisting of whatever food is available.
2. (by extension) Whatever is available in a particular situation.
3. (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.

   Synonym: (Britain, dialectal) fuddle
4. (obsolete) The last draft or portion of an alcoholic beverage in a pot or other drinking vessel.

Usage notes

Sense 3 of the term is widespread in American English, though the Dictionary of American Regional English finds that it is less common in the South, the Mid-Atlantic states, and New York than elsewhere.

Alternative forms

• pot luck
• pot-luck

Translations

See also

• brown bag

References

Further reading

• potluck on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• John S[tephen] Farmer; W[illiam] E[rnest] Henley, compilers and editors (1902) , “Pot-luck”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present: […], volume V (N. to Razzle-dazzle), London: Printed for subscribers only, OCLC 220990342, pages 273–274.
• potluck in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “potluck”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “potluck”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• putlock