What it means
A potluck is a shared meal where everyone brings a dish and the table turns into a lucky little food raffle. It can also mean any situation where you take what you get, no special picking, no guarantees, just whatever's in the mix.
Usage examples
"We’re doing a potluck at mine Friday, yeah. Bring some nibbles or a proper pie, not that sad raw-pasta situation again, cheers."
"Bring a dish to the office party, it's a potluck this year."
"We didn't book ahead, so dinner was a bit of a potluck."
"It's a potluck, so don't overthink it, just bring something edible and vaguely cheerful."
"The playlist was pure potluck tonight, bits of Motown, drill, sad indie and one rogue ABBA detour."
Where it comes from
Potluck comes from the older phrase luck of the pot, recorded in English from the 16th century. It meant the food a guest got was whatever happened to be cooking, with no special fuss made for them. The bring-a-dish gathering sense showed up much later, mostly in North American use.
This expression also appears in
