raffle
n.a game where people buy numbered tickets for a chance to win a prize. A winner is chosen by picking a ticket at random from a container.
n.a competition in which participants purchase numbered tickets, with one or more being drawn at random to determine the winner of a prize.
“I bought three tickets for the school raffle.”
“The local charity organized a raffle to raise money for the new community center playground.”
“While the grand prize was a luxury cruise, most participants entered the raffle simply to support the foundation's ongoing efforts to provide clean water to rural villages.”
Often used with the verbs 'hold', 'organize', or 'enter'.
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”).
See raff.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.