Dictionary entries for 'stake'

Synonyms

stake (stāk)

[Middle English, from Old English staca.]

noun

A piece of wood or metal pointed at one end for driving into the ground as a marker, fence pole, or tent peg.
1. A vertical post to which an offender is bound for execution by burning.
2. Execution by burning. Used with the: condemned to the stake.
A vertical post secured in a socket at the edge of a platform, as on a truck bed, to help retain the load.
Mormon Church A territorial division consisting of a group of wards under the jurisdiction of a president.
Sports & Games
1. Money or property risked in a wager or gambling game. Often used in the plural. See synonyms at bet
2. The prize awarded the winner of a contest or race.
3. A race offering a prize to the winner, especially a horserace in which the prize consists of money contributed equally by the horse owners.
1. A share or an interest in an enterprise, especially a financial share.
2. Personal interest or involvement: a stake in her children's future.
A grubstake.

1. To mark the location or limits of with or as if with stakes: stake out a claim.
2. To claim as one's own: staked out a place for herself in industry.
To fasten, secure, or support with a stake or stakes.
To tether or tie to a stake.
To gamble or risk; hazard.
To provide working capital for; finance.

stake out: To assign (a police officer, for example) to an area to conduct surveillance.; To keep under surveillance.