■ pronoun ( a ~ or ~s ) informal a large number or amount; a great deal.
↘( the ~ or the whole ~ ) the whole number or quantity.
■ adverb ( a ~ or ~s ) informal a great deal.
■ noun
1》 [treated as sing. or plural ] informal a particular group or set of people or things.
2》 an item or set of items for sale at an auction.
3》 a method of deciding something by random selection, especially of one from a number of pieces of paper.
↘the choice resulting from such a process.
4》 a person's destiny, luck, or condition in life.
5》 chiefly N. Amer. a p~ of land.
↘(also parking ~ ) a car park.
■ verb ( ~s , ~ting , ~ted ) divide into ~s for sale at an auction.
Phrases
bad ~ Brit. informal a dishonest person.
draw (or cast ) ~s decide by ~.
fall to someone's ~ become someone's task or responsibility.
throw in one's ~ with decide to share the fate of.
Origin
OE h~ (n.) (orig. in sense 3 and 4), of Gmc origin.
Usage
Although a ~ of and ~s of are very common in speech and writing, they still have an informal feel and it is better to avoid them in formal English, where alternatives such as many or a large number should be used instead.
The correct spelling is a ~ ; the one-word form a~ is incorrect.