potluck
(noun) whatever happens to be available especially when offered to an unexpected guest or when brought by guests and shared by all; “having arrived unannounced we had to take potluck”; “a potluck supper”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
potluck (countable and uncountable, plural potlucks) (also attributively)
(dated) A meal, especially one offered to a guest, consisting of whatever food is available.
(by extension) Whatever is available in a particular situation.
(originally, Canada, US) A shared meal consisting of whatever guests have brought (sometimes without prior arrangement); a potlatch; also, a dish of food brought to such a meal.
Synonym: fuddle (Britain, dialectal)
(obsolete) The last draft or portion of an alcoholic beverage in a pot or other drinking vessel.
Sense 3 of the term is widespread in American English, though the Dictionary of American Regional English finds that it is less common in the South, the Mid-Atlantic states, and New York than elsewhere.
• putlock
Source: Wiktionary
Pot"luck`, n.
Definition: Whatever may chance to be in the pot, or may be provided for a meal. A woman whose potluck was always to be relied on. G. Eliot. To take potluck, to take what food may chance to be provided.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
14 June 2025
(noun) a member of a learned society; “he was elected a fellow of the American Physiological Association”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
