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.

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.

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.

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.

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