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Origin and history of raffle

raffle(n.)

late 14c., rafle, "game played with dice, a throw of the dice" (senses now obsolete), from Old French rafle "dice game," also "plundering," a word of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a Germanic source (compare Middle Dutch raffel "dice game," Old Frisian hreppa "to move," Old Norse hreppa "to reach, get," Swedish rafs "rubbish," Old High German raspon "to scrape together, snatch up in haste," German raffen "to snatch away, sweep off"), from Proto-Germanic *khrap- "to pluck out, snatch off." The notion would be "to sweep up (the stakes), to snatch (the winnings)." Diez connects the French word with the Germanic root, but OED is against this.

The meaning "method of sale by chance or lottery, form of lottery in which an article is assigned by the drawing of lots to one person among several who have paid for the chance" is recorded by 1766.

raffle(v.)

"dispose of by raffle; try the chance of a raffle," 1851, from raffle (n.). Earlier "to cast dice" (1670s). Related: Raffled; raffling.

also from 1851

Entries linking to raffle

rasp(v.)

mid-13c., raspen, "to scrape, abrade by rubbing with a coarsely rough instrument or something like one," from Middle Dutch raspen and from Old French rasper (Modern French râper) "to grate, rasp," which is ultimately from a West Germanic source (compare Old English gehrespan, Old High German hrespan "to rake together") for which see raffle (n.). The vocalic sense is from 1843. Related: Rasped; rasping.

riffraff(n.)

also riff-raff, late 15c., "persons of disreputable character or low degree," from earlier rif and raf (Anglo-French rif et raf) "one and all, everybody; every scrap, everything," also "sweepings, refuse, things of small value" (mid-14c.), from Old French rif et raf, from rifler "to spoil, strip" (see rifle (v.)). Second element from raffler "carry off," related to rafle "plundering," or from raffer "to snatch, to sweep together" (see raffle (n.)); the word presumably made more for suggestive half-rhyming alliteration than for sense.

The meaning "refuse, scum, or rabble of a community" is by 1540s. In 15c. collections of terms of association, a group of young men or boys was a raffle of knaves.

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    chance
    happens" (early 14c.) is from the old, neutral sense; to take a chance/take chances is originally (by 1814) "participate in a raffle...
    drawing
    c. 1300, "a pulling, act of imparting notion by towing," in various senses; verbal noun from draw (v.). The meaning "act of forming or tracing by a pen, pencil, etc." is from late 15c,; that of "picture or representation produced by drawing" is from 1660s. Drawing-board, "board o
    present
    c. 1300, "being in the same place as someone or something;" early 14c., "existing at the time," from Old French present "evident, at hand, within reach;" as a noun, "the present time" (11c., Modern French présent) and directly from Latin praesentem (nominative praesens) "present,
    give
    Old English giefan (West Saxon) "to give, bestow, deliver to another; allot, grant; commit, devote, entrust," class V strong verb (past tense geaf, past participle giefen), from Proto-Germanic *geban (source also of Old Frisian jeva, Middle Dutch gheven, Dutch geven, Old High Ger
    gift
    mid-13c. "that which is given" (c. 1100 in surnames), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse gift, gipt "gift; good luck," from Proto-Germanic *geftiz (source also of Old Saxon gift, Old Frisian jefte, Middle Dutch ghifte "gift," German Mitgift "dowry"), from *geb- "to give
    lottery
    1560s, "arrangement for an awarding of prizes by chance among those buying tickets," from Italian lotteria, from lotto "lot, portion, share," from a Germanic source. It is cognate with Old English hlot (see lot (n.)), and compare lotto. French loterie is from Middle Dutch loterje
    off
    by c. 1200 as an emphatic form of Old English of (see of), employed in the adverbial use of that word. The prepositional meaning "away from" and the adjectival sense of "farther" were not firmly fixed in this variant until 17c., but once they were they left the original of with t
    despite
    c. 1300, despit (n.) "contemptuous challenge, defiance; act designed to insult or humiliate someone;" mid-14c., "scorn, contempt," from Old French despit (12c., Modern French dépit), from Latin despectus "a looking down on, scorn, contempt," from past participle of despicere "loo
    knockoff
    also knock-off, "cheap imitation," 1966, from the verbal phrase knock off "do hastily" (1817), in reference to the casual way the things are made. The verbal phrase knock off is attested from 1640s as "desist, stop" (work, study, etc.), hence knockoff (n.) "act of leaving work" (
    asphalt
    early 14c., "hard, resinous mineral pitch found originally in Biblical lands," from Late Latin asphaltum, from Greek asphaltos "asphalt, bitumen," often said to be from Greek a- "not" + *sphaltos "able to be thrown down," taken as verbal adjective of sphallein "to throw down," ac

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