lion's share

Definition

The majority; a large or generous portion.

Etymology

From Aesop’s fable The Lion's Share, in which a lion claims the full amount of the spoil after hunting with a number of other beasts. In one version of the fable, the lion claims three-quarters of the kill rather than the whole, leaving the three other animals to fight over the remainder.

Example Sentences

• "They got a large donation, but the lion’s share of the money went straight into paying off debt."
• "In place of dividing the merit of the discovery between the Englishman and the Scotchman, and giving the lion's share to my countryman, I have given the whole merit of the discovery to [Henry] Cavendish the Englishman, and have reserved only for [James] Watt the Scotchman, the merit of the previous hypothesis,—a merit freely given him by Cavendish himself, and one which no other person ever claimed."
• "But when a fortunate section of them should begin to win lions' shares of the spoil through superior aptitude for the struggle, can we doubt in what direction the disappointed ones would seek for consolation and support?"