fluke

Pluralflukes, fluke

Formsflukes, fluking, fluked

1. 1
   lucky chancenouncountable

   A lucky or unlikely event that would probably never happen again.

   Critics called her first hit a fluke, but her second album proved them wrong.

   By some fluke, the letter reached us even though the address was wrong.

   UsageOften in set phrases: by a fluke, a total fluke, and no fluke.

   Similaraccident, chance

   Note

   The word seems to have begun at the billiard table as a name for a lucky shot, a use that survives in the verb for lucky success; beyond that its origin is unknown. Dorothy L. Sayers's Wimsey would rather see a woman hanged than have her thought a murderess "who got off by a fluke." Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The lucky-event sense apparently originated as a term for a lucky billiards shot. en.wiktionary.org
   • The verb denotes success obtained by chance. en.wiktionary.org
   • The ultimate origin of this sense is unknown. en.wiktionary.org
   • Wimsey, in Dorothy L. Sayers's Strong Poison, expresses this preference and says the quoted words. gutenberg.org
2. 2
   parasite wormnouncountable

   A parasitic flatworm of the class Trematoda, a group related to the tapeworms of the class Cestoda.

   Under the microscope, the fluke clung to the tissue with its suckers.

   Farmers drain wet pastures to protect their sheep from flukes.

   Similartrematode

   Note

   Biologists call these worms trematodes; fluke is the everyday name, and it comes from their shape, the same old word for something flat that names the flatfish. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • These parasitic flatworms are called trematodes, or flukes. cdc.gov
   • The worm's name derives from the Old English name for a flatfish and refers to its flattened shape. en.wikipedia.org
3. 3
   whale tailnouncountable

   Either of the two lobes that form the tail of a whale or a similar animal.

   Researchers identify individual humpbacks by the patterns on the underside of their flukes.

   With a slap of its broad fluke, the whale sent spray across the deck.

   UsageUsually plural, since a tail has two lobes: a whale raises or slaps its flukes.

   Note

   It is the same word as the anchor's flat blade. Ishmael, mocking a half-man, half-whale sculpture in Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), says its tail looks more like an anaconda's than the broad palms of a true whale. One guess even traces a lucky fluke to the speed these tails give a whale. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The whale-tail and anchor-blade senses belong to the same word. en.wiktionary.org
   • The passage mocks a sculpture described as half man and half whale. gutenberg.org
   • The sculpture's tail is compared to an anaconda's rather than a whale's broad flukes. gutenberg.org
   • A proposed etymology connects the lucky sense with whales using their flukes to move rapidly. en.wiktionary.org
4. 4
   flat fishnouncountable or uncountable

   The summer flounder, the flatfish Paralichthys dentatus.

   Anglers drifting over the sandy bottom hoped to hook a keeper fluke.

   The fish market had fresh fluke from the morning boats.

   Similarflounder

   Note

   This fluke is a separate word from the lucky one, and among the oldest: Old English flōc already meant a flatfish, from a Germanic root for "flat" that also gave German flach. The fish keeps the name because of its shape, and the parasitic flatworm shares both the name and the root. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • The fish name is treated as a separate word from the lucky sense, whose origin is uncertain. en.wiktionary.org
   • The fish word is among the oldest fluke homonyms and descends from Old English flōc, meaning flatfish. en.wiktionary.org
   • The fish name belongs to a Germanic family referring to flatness that also includes German flach. en.wiktionary.org
   • The fish name refers to its flat shape, an inference supported by its etymology. en.wiktionary.org
   • The parasitic flatworm's name derives from the fish name and therefore shares its root. en.wikipedia.org
5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To achieve something, such as a win or a shot, by luck rather than skill.

   They fluked a draw against the league leaders with a last-minute deflection.

   She had no idea of the answer but managed to fluke the right one and win the quiz.

   UsageOften fluke a win, fluke a pass, or fluke your way into something.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A pointed, winglike blade or barb, especially one at the end of an anchor arm that digs into the bottom.

   The crew couldn't raise the anchor because a fluke had hooked an old cable on the bottom.

   Broad flukes help an anchor hold in soft mud.

   Note

   Recorded from the mid-16th century, the anchor sense is probably the flatfish word or a relative of it put to new use: an anchor holds because its flukes dig into the bottom as the cable pulls. Joseph Conrad's The Mirror of the Sea counts the flukes among an anchor's parts, with the ring, the stock, the crown, the palms and the shank.

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