stake

Meaning

Noun

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. (with-definite-article) The piece of timber to which a person condemned to death was affixed to be burned.
5. A share or interest in a business or a given situation.
6. That which is laid down as a wager; that which is staked or hazarded; a pledge.
7. 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.
8. (Mormonism) A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.

Verb

1. (transitive) To fasten, support, defend, or delineate with stakes.
2. (transitive) To pierce or wound with a stake.
3. (transitive) To put at risk upon success in competition, or upon a future contingency.
4. (transitive) To provide (another) with money in order to engage in an activity as betting or a business venture.
5. To deposit and risk a considerable amount of cryptocurrency in order to participate in the proof of stake process of verification.

Synonyms

post

bet

wager

pole

peg

picket

interest

stanchion

pale

venture

pile

gamble

risk

stick

stakes

shaft

staff

hazard

bar

adventure

rod

bet on

stave

spar

share

standard

prop

stump

jeopardize

impale

handle

game

back

🔙

spike

band

dice

attach

punt

pin

ante

piles

pledge

column

palisade

nail

pillar

paling

belay

investment

hitch

Translations

pieu

Pfahl

paal

estaca

piquet

estaca

poteau

poste

enjeu

palo

estacar

pal

staak

estaca

mise

Pronounced as (IPA)

/steɪk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: stake

Inherited from Old English: staca

Cognate with Scots: stak

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Stak

Cognate with Western Frisian: staak

Cognate with Dutch: staak

Cognate with Low German: Stake

Cognate with Norwegian: stake

In summary

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.