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Glite Dictionary
to raffle off

to raffle off

3 4.1
To offer something as a prize and choose a winner by selling tickets to raise money
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : rifar
  • As we attempted to dodge the raindrops, we line danced and raffled off prizes from college book scholarships to college campus tours.
  • raffle off prizes
  • raffle off a car
  • raffling off tickets

But but I mean I'll do it, but we will raffle off one of our lucky subscribers, Harper's personal TikTok account.

Examples

  • For our charity event, we will raffle off a brand new bicycle to raise funds.

  • The Davidson Family Farms will be donating two 20 lb boxes of pork to be raffled off.

    Blog text (32)

  • Instead, he raffled off the tickets.

    Blog text (19)

  • All kinds of things are being raffled off.

    Blog text (13)

  • Now you also want to have two good looking girls walking around and raffling off those two iPads, right?

  • Harris Bank Center as the IceHogs don special uniforms that will be raffled off after the game and throughout the season.

    Blog text (18)

  • The money that had been raised by the event would go to fund future Architectural Heritage Committee restoration projects, less the cost of the case of wine about to be raffled off.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I live in the Detroit area, where they hold spaghetti dinners and raffle off toasters and other small appliances in order to get parents to come to teacher conferences and open houses.

    Blog text (13)

  • I know that not everyone will want to rush to the finish line, so the great folks at Eurail.com have donated a few of their 10-day Global Passes (value of over $800 each) that we will be raffling off on September 1st for those people who have entered by then.

    Blog text (19)

  • The kit includes a new Julieanne Kost DVD and items a club can raffle off at an event held at a club meeting: a computer case, tee shirts, luggage tags, and, for clubs with 50 or more in attendance, Lightroom 3!

    Academic text (2010)

Synonyms

to raffle
vsto raffle off
6 3.3

To offer an item as a prize by selling numbered tickets

focuses on doing this to raise money

Surface Forms

raffle off infinitive
raffled off past
raffled off past participle
raffling off present participle
raffles off third person singular

Morphology

raffle + off

The meaning 'to offer or dispose of something by means of a raffle' is directly and predictably built from 'raffle' (to dispose by ticketed drawing) combined with the particle 'off' (indicating giving away or disposal). This verb+particle composition follows a common English pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who already knows both constituents.

Etymology

Raffle off comes from the simple picture of a raffle: people buy tickets and drop them into a hat or box, and an organiser draws one ticket and gives the prize off to the winner. So to raffle off something means 'to give it away as a prize', often 'to raise money'.