“staking” is a form of
stake
/steɪk/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms stakes staking staked
- noun 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.”
- noun (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.
- noun 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.
- noun (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.”
- noun A share or interest in a business or a given situation. “The owners let the managers eventually earn a stake in the business.”
- noun That which is laid down as a wager; that which is staked or hazarded; a pledge.
- noun 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.
- noun (Mormonism) A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.
- verb (transitive) To fasten, support, defend, or delineate with stakes. “to stake vines or plants”
- verb (transitive) To pierce or wound with a stake.
- verb (transitive) To put at risk upon success in competition, or upon a future contingency.
- verb (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.”
- verb (cryptocurrencies) To deposit and risk a considerable amount of cryptocurrency in order to participate in the proof of stake process of verification.
- verb (obsolete, glovemaking) To stretch leather skin over a piece of iron held knee-height, in preparation to use the skin in the creation of gloves.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
peg bet hazard wager interest post stakes venture adventure jeopardize bet on back gage game punt impale
Etymology
From Middle English stake, from Old English staca (“pin, tack, stake”), from Proto-West Germanic *stakō, 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, Spanish estaca.
English surname, from the noun stake. Compare Staff, Stack.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A piece of wood, usually long and slender, pointed at one end so as to be easily driven into the ground as a support or stay; as, a stake to support vines, fences, hedges, etc. A sharpened stake strong Dryas found. Dryden.
- noun A stick inserted upright in a lop, eye, or mortise, at the side or end of a cart, a flat car, or the like, to prevent goods from falling off.
- verb To fasten, support, or defend with stakes; as, to stake vines or plants.
- verb To mark the limits of by stakes; --with out; as, to stake out land; to stake out a new road.
Etymology [AS. staca, from the root of E. stick; akin to OFries. & LG. stake, D. staak, Sw. stake, Dan. stage. See Stick, v. t., and cf. Estacade, Stockade.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “stake”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details