- Also called: flue a flat bladelike projection at the end of the arm of an anchor
- either of the two lobes of the tail of a whale or related animal
- Also called: flue the barb or barbed head of a harpoon, arrow, etc
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
fluke1 /fluk/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
fluke2 /fluk/USA pronunciation n. [countable]
fluke3 /fluk/USA pronunciation n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- Nautical, Naval Termsthe part of an anchor that catches in the ground.
- the barbed head of a harpoon, spear, arrow, etc.
- Zoologyeither half of the triangular tail of a whale.
fluke2 /fluk/USA pronunciation n. [countable]
- a stroke of luck:I got the job by a fluke.
fluke3 /fluk/USA pronunciation n. [countable]
- Fishany of several American flounders of the Atlantic Ocean.
fluke1
(flo̅o̅k),USA pronunciation n.
fluke2 (flo̅o̅k),USA pronunciation n.
fluke3 (flo̅o̅k),USA pronunciation n.
fluke′less, adj.
- Nautical, Naval Termsthe part of an anchor that catches in the ground, esp. the flat triangular piece at the end of each arm. See diag. under anchor.
- a barb, or the barbed head, of a harpoon, spear, arrow, or the like.
- Zoologyeither half of the triangular tail of a whale.
- perh. special use of fluke3 1555–65
fluke2 (flo̅o̅k),USA pronunciation n.
- an accidental advantage;
stroke of good luck:He got the job by a fluke. - an accident or chance happening.
- an accidentally successful stroke, as in billiards.
- 1855–60; of obscure origin, originally; compare dialect, dialectal fluke a guess
fluke3 (flo̅o̅k),USA pronunciation n.
- Fishany of several American flounders of the genus Paralichthys, esp. P. dentatus, found in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Fishany of various other flatfishes.
- Invertebratesa trematode.
- bef. 900; Middle English flok(e), fluke, Old English flōc; cognate with Old Norse flōki; compare Old High German flah flat (German flach)
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
fluke /fluːk/ n
fluke /fluːk/ n
- an accidental stroke of luck
- any chance happening
- (transitive) to gain, make, or hit by a fluke
fluke /fluːk/ n
- any parasitic flatworm, such as the blood fluke and liver fluke, of the classes Monogenea and Digenea (formerly united in a single class Trematoda)
- another name for flounder2
'fluke' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
flounder
- flue
- helminth
- palm
- bill
- black disease
- blood fluke
- Chinese liver fluke
- fluky
- liver fluke
- liver-rot
- lung fluke
- miracidium
- trematode
- schistosome
- scratch