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Bible Encyclopedias
Fluke
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or (probably connected with the Ger. flack, flat), a name given to several kinds of fish, flat in shape, especially to the common flounder; also the name of a trematoid worm, resembling a flounder in shape, which as a parasite infects the liver and neighbouring organs of certain animals, especially sheep, and causes liver-rot. The most common is the Fasciola hepatica (see Trematodes). It is also the name of a species of kidney potato. Probably from a resemblance to the shape of the fish, "fluke" is the name given to the holding-plates, triangular in shape, at the end of the arms of an anchor, and to the triangular extremities of the tail of a whale. The use of the word as a slang expression for a lucky accident appears to have been first applied in billiards to an unintentional scoring shot.
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Fluke'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/f/fluke.html. 1910.
