fluked

1. 1
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of fluke.

   She fluked the eight ball into the corner pocket and won the game.

   Critics said the team had fluked its way into the final.

   Note

   The object is usually the lucky result itself: a goal, a winning shot, a pass that came off by accident. In snooker it is the ball, potted in a way the player never planned. The pattern fluked its way into suggests success its critics think undeserved. The verb is regular, so one spelling serves as both past tense and participle.

2. 2
   adjective

   Having flukes, such as the paired lobes of a whale's tail or the pointed blades of an anchor.

   Whales drive themselves forward with powerful strokes of their fluked tails.

   The heavy fluked anchor dug into the sandy bottom and held the boat fast.

   Note

   An adjective of shape, built on the noun fluke in its physical meanings, and nothing to do with luck: a fluked tail has flukes, it is not a lucky one. It usually sits straight before its noun, and zoologists use it to tell animals apart, as when the dugong's fluked, dolphin-like tail separates it from the manatees. It does not take more or most.

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