one-armed bandit



one-armed bandit

A slot machine, as in It's amazing how many people think they can make money playing a one-armed bandit. This term refers to both appearance and function: the operating lever looks like an arm, and the machine in effect robs players, since it "wins" and keeps the player's money in an overwhelming majority of instances. [c. 1930]
See also: bandit

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Partha-Hinduism, Bengali, Indian, Assamese
Azarias-Biblical Greek, Biblical Latin
LamprechtLAHMP-rekht (German)German (Archaic), Ancient Germanic
Silva-Bulgarian, Slovene
Anfisaahn-FEE-sahRussian
Italo-Italian