stake

views updated Jun 27 2018

stake1 / stāk/ • n. 1. a strong wooden or metal post with a point at one end, driven into the ground to support a tree, form part of a fence, act as a boundary mark, etc. ∎  a long vertical rod used in basket-making. ∎  a metalworker's small anvil, typically with a projection for fitting into a socket on a bench.2. (the stake) hist. a wooden post to which a person was tied before being burned alive as a punishment.3. a territorial division of the Mormon Church under the jurisdiction of a president.• v. [tr.] 1. support (a tree or plant) with a stake or stakes.2. (stake something out) mark an area with stakes so as to claim ownership of it: the boundary between the two ranches was properly staked out | fig. the local dog staked out his territory. ∎  be assertive in defining and defending a position or policy: Elena was staking out a role for herself as a formidable political force.PHRASES: pull up stakes move or go to live elsewhere.stake a claim assert one's right to something.PHRASAL VERBS: stake someone/something out inf. continuously watch a place or person in secret: they'd staked out Culley's house for half a day.stake2 • n. (usu. stakes) a sum of money or something else of value gambled on the outcome of a risky game or venture: playing dice for high stakes | fig. the mayor raised the stakes in the battle for power. ∎  a share or interest in a business, situation, or system: GM acquired a 50 percent stake in Saab. ∎  (stakes) prize money, esp. in horse racing. ∎  [in names] (stakes) a horse race in which all the owners of the racehorses running contribute to the prize money: the horse is to run in the Lexington Stakes. ∎  (stakes) a situation involving competition in a specified area: we will keep you one step ahead in the fashion stakes.• v. [tr.] 1. gamble (money or something else of value) on the outcome of a game or race: one gambler staked everything he'd got and lost| fig. it was risky to stake his reputation on one big success. 2. inf. give financial or other support to: he staked him to an education at the École des Beaux-Arts.PHRASES: at stake1. to be won or lost; at risk: people's lives could be at stake.2. at issue or in question: the logical response is to give up, but there's more at stake than logic.

stake

views updated May 17 2018

stake2 stake a claim assert one's right to something; with allusion to the practice of putting stakes around the perimeter of a piece of land to which one is laying claim. The expression stake (out) a claim was originally US, dating from the California gold rush of 1849.

stake

views updated May 18 2018

stake1 stout stick or post. OE. staca, corr. to (M)LG., MDu. stake (Du. staak); f. *stak- *stek- (see STICK1).
Hence stake vb. XIV; cf. OE. stacung impaling.

stake

views updated Jun 11 2018

stake1 a wooden post to which a person was tied before being burned alive as a punishment; the stake was thus used for the punishment of death by burning, especially in times of religious persecution.

stake

views updated May 18 2018

stake2 sb. that which is placed at hazard; vb. wager, hazard. XVI. of unkn. orig
.