stake
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English stake, from Old English staca (“pin, tack, stake”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake”), from Proto-Indo-European *stog-, *steg- (“stake”). Cognate with Scots stak, staik, Saterland Frisian Stak, West Frisian staak, Dutch staak, Low German Stake, Norwegian stake.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editstake (plural stakes)
- A piece of wood or other material, usually long and slender, pointed at one end so as to be easily driven into the ground as a marker or a support or stay.
- We have surveyor's stakes at all four corners of this field, to mark exactly its borders.
- 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- A sharpened stake strong Dryas found.
- (croquet) A piece of wood driven in the ground, placed in the middle of the court, that is used as the finishing point after scoring 12 hoops in croquet.
- A stick or similar object (e.g., steel channel or angle stock) inserted upright in a lop, eye, or mortise, at the side or end of a cart, flat car, flatbed trailer, or the like, to prevent goods from falling off; often connected in a grid forming a stakebody.
- (with definite article) The piece of timber to which a person condemned to death was affixed to be burned.
- Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake.
- 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 106:
- However, the word "witch" came to be applied almost exclusively to women who [...] were usually old and ugly, and for this reason many unfortunate old ladies, whose only crimes were loneliness and a lack of beauty, went to the stake.
- That which is laid down as a wager; that which is staked or hazarded; a pledge.
- A small anvil usually furnished with a tang to enter a hole in a bench top, as used by tinsmiths, blacksmiths, etc., for light work, punching hole in or cutting a work piece, or for specific forming techniques etc.
- (Mormonism) A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.
- 1910, Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge:
- Every city, or stake, including a chief town and surrounding towns, has its president, with two counselors; and this president has a high council of chosen men.
Synonyms
edit- (croquet): peg
Derived terms
editTranslations
editpointed long and slender piece of wood etc.
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croquet: finishing stick
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upright stick to prevent goods falling off a cart
timber to which a martyr was affixed to be burned
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wager or pledge
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Mormonism: territorial division
Verb
editstake (third-person singular simple present stakes, present participle staking, simple past and past participle staked)
- (transitive) To fasten, support, defend, or delineate with stakes.
- to stake vines or plants
- (transitive) To pierce or wound with a stake.
- 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner:
- You see, I'd made a bargain with him to buy the horse for a hundred and twenty—a swinging price, but I always liked the horse. And what does he do but go and stake him—fly at a hedge with stakes in it, atop of a bank with a ditch before it.
- 2014, A. J. Gallant, Dracula: Hearts of Stone:
- “You ladies happen to notice what happened to this vampire? This just happened. Did you see who staked him?”
- (transitive) To put at risk upon success in competition, or upon a future contingency.
- 1709 May, Alexander Pope, “Pastorals. Spring. The First Pastoral, or Damon. […]”, in Poetical Miscellanies: The Sixth Part. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 725:
- I'll ſtake my Lamb that near the Fountain plays, / And from the Brink his dancing Shade ſurveys.
- (transitive) To provide (another) with money in order to engage in an activity as betting or a business venture.
- John went broke, so to keep him playing, Jill had to stake him.
- His family staked him $10,000 to get his business started.
- (cryptocurrencies) To deposit and risk a considerable amount of cryptocurrency in order to participate in the proof of stake process of verification.
- 2019, Elad Elrom, “Blockchain Basics”, in The Blockchain Developer […] , Apress, →ISBN, page 23:
- Any peer can participate in the mining process by staking coins in order to validate a new transaction. To become a miner, there are two options; you can stake your coins to be used by a trustworthy node […] , or you can submit a full node to be selected as a miner.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editto fasten, support, or defend with stakes
to pierce or wound with a stake
to put at hazard upon the issue of competition
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Further reading
edit- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “stake”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
Anagrams
editDutch
editVerb
editstake
- (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of steken
- (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of staken
Anagrams
editMiddle English
editEtymology 1
editFrom Old English staca, from Proto-West Germanic *stakō, from Proto-Germanic *stakô.
Alternative forms
editPronunciation
editNoun
editstake (plural stakes)
- A stake; wood put in the ground as a marker or support.
- A fencepost; a stake used in concert to form a barrier.
- A branch or bough; an extension of a tree.
- A stave or stick; a cut (and often shaped) piece of wood.
- (rare) A prickle or splint.
- (rare) A metal bar or pole.
- (rare) A stabbing feeling.
Derived terms
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- “stāke, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-12-02.
Etymology 2
editVerb
editstake
- Alternative form of staken
Swedish
editEtymology
editFrom Old Swedish staki, from Old Norse staki, from Proto-Germanic *stakô, from Proto-Indo-European *steg-.
Noun
editstake c
- Synonym of ljusstake (“candlestick; candelabrum”)
- (colloquial, vulgar) a hard-on (penile erection)
- (slang, uncountable) balls; courage, assertiveness
Declension
editnominative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|
singular | indefinite | stake | stakes |
definite | staken | stakens | |
plural | indefinite | stakar | stakars |
definite | stakarna | stakarnas |
Related terms
editReferences
edit- stake in Svensk ordbok (SO)
- stake in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
- stake in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
- Fula Ordboken
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)teg- (pole)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English terms with homophones
- Rhymes:English/eɪk
- Rhymes:English/eɪk/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Croquet
- en:Mormonism
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- en:Cryptocurrency
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- Middle English verbs
- enm:Woods
- Swedish terms derived from Old Swedish
- Swedish terms derived from Old Norse
- Swedish terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Swedish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- Swedish colloquialisms
- Swedish vulgarities
- Swedish slang
- Swedish uncountable nouns