Fluke

Definitions

1. A surname.
2. A lucky or improbable occurrence that could probably never be repeated.
3. A summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus)
4. Any of the triangular blades at the end of an anchor, designed to catch the ground.
5. Either of the two lobes of a whale's or similar creature's tail.
6. A trematode; a parasitic flatworm of the class Trematoda, related to tapeworms (class Cestoda).
7. A metal hook on the head of certain staff weapons (such as a bill), made in various forms depending on function, whether used for grappling or to penetrate armour when swung at an opponent.
8. In general, a winglike formation on a central piece.
9. Waste cotton.

Equivalents

24 more languages

العربيةالحظّ

Българскилапаметил

Bosanskiklȉkametiljpekeметилметиљ+ 2 more

Catalàxamba

Češtinahaluzklikamotolicešťastná náhoda+ 1 more

Ελληνικάαγκίδι

Suomiankkurinkourakampelamaksamatomoukan tuurimunkkionnenkantamoinenonnenpotkuväkä+ 5 more

Gaeilgetaisme

Gàidhligfleogan

Hrvatskiklȉkametiljpekeметилметиљ+ 2 more

Magyarmázlimétely

Italianocasocaso fortuitocolpo di fortunagancio+ 1 more

日本語まぐれ紛れ当たり

한국어광어넙치뽀록요행수후로꾸+ 2 more

Kurdîpêke

Te Reo Māoripēke

Nederlandsankerbladankerhandstaartvintoevalstrefferweerhaakwemzuigworm+ 4 more

Polskifartfuksprzywra

Portuguêsacaso da sorteacaso felizcagadafortuna inesperadagolpe de sortelobo da cauda de baleiapata de âncora+ 4 more

Românăpleașcă

Русскийвезениедвуу́стказазубринакрюкла́па я́корясоса́льщиксчастли́вая случа́йностьтремато́даудачахвостово́й плавни́к+ 7 more

Српскиklȉkametiljpekeметилметиљ+ 2 more

Svenskalyckträffsinkadus

Tagalogtsamba

Examples

“We've classified by a fluke; actually, the first goal was just a total fluke.”

““[…] That's the first time in the history of Bierce's Cove that two men made that jump⟳ on the same sea. And all the risk⟳ was yours, coming last⟳.” “It was a fluke,” Billy insisted.”

“Three of the best hitters in the Eastern retired on nine strikes! That was no fluke.”

“"And I say⟳," said Wimsey, "that it would be better for her to be hanged outright than to live⟳ and have⟳ everybody think⟳ her a murderess who got off by a fluke."”

“It's Christmas at ground zero / Now the missiles are on their way / What a crazy fluke / We're gonna get⟳ nuked / On this jolly holiday”

“And before I forget⟳... that was one amazing kiss, mister. Could have⟳ been a fluke, though. Guess⟳ we have⟳ to keep⟳ trying.”

“That this was not just a fluke was proved by a further profit the following year, albeit cut⟳ due to industrial action - jam at last⟳!”

“The man became infected with flukes after eating a meal of raw fish⟳.”

“The fluke of the anchor was wedged between two outcroppings of rock and could not be dislodged.”

“The honest, rough piece of iron⟳, so simple in appearance, has more parts than the human body has limbs: the ring⟳, the stock⟳, the crown, the flukes, the palms, the shank. All this, according to the journalist, is “cast⟳” when a ship arriving at an anchorage is brought up.”

“The dolphin had an open⟳ wound on the left fluke of its tail where the propeller had injured it.”

“But though this sculpture is half man and half whale, so as only to give⟳ the tail of the latter, yet that small section of him is all wrong. It looks more like⟳ the tapering tail of an anaconda, than the broad palms of the true whale's majestic flukes.”

“As Walter de la Mare writes, "How uncomprehendingly must an angel from heaven smile⟳ on a poor human sitting engrossed in a romance: angled upon his hams, motionless in his chair, spectacles on nose, his two feet as close⟳ together as the flukes of a merman's tail, only his strange eyes stirring in his time-worn face⟳."”

“The polearm had a wide, sharpened fluke attached to the central point⟳.”

“After casting the bronze statue, we filed down the flukes and spurs from the molding process⟳.”

CEFR level