Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LUCK, n. [D. luk, geluk; G. glück; Sw. lycka; Dan. lykke; Sans. lakki. The sense is that which comes, falls, happens. W. lluç, a dart or throw; lluçiaw, to throw. Qu. Gr. λαγχανω; Ar. لَقَا laka. Class Lg, No. 21.]

That which happens to a person; an event, good or ill, a feeling a man's interest or happiness, and which is deemed casual; fortune. Luck respects persons and their proceedings. We never say, in a literal sense, that a plant has the luck to grow in a particular place; or a fossil has the luck to be of a particular form. We say, a person has the good luck to escape from danger; or the ill luck to be insnared or to suffer loss. He has had good luck, or bad luck in gaming, fishing or hunting. Luck, or what we call chance, accident, fortune, is an event which takes place without being intended or foreseen; or from some cause not under human control; that which can not be previously known or determined with certainty by human skill or power. Consider the gift of luck as below the care of a wise man. – Rambler.