# stake
## English
### 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.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /steɪk/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Homophone: steak
* Rhymes: -eɪk

### Noun

stake (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.
* A share or interest in a business or a given situation.
    Coordinate term: seat at the table
    The owners let the managers eventually earn a stake in the business.
** 2021 February 10, Richard Clinnick, “Eurostar boost as French promise aid”, in RAIL, number 924, page 10:The French Government is Eurostar's majority shareholder, with the country's state-owned railway SNCF holding a 55% stake, while Belgian state operator SNCB has a 5% 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

* (croquet): peg

#### Derived terms

* alestake
* (wager or pledge) at stake
* burn someone at the stake
* corkscrew stake
* drive a stake through its heart
* grub-stake
* macaroni stake
* maiden stake
* pull up stakes
* ridstake
* stake boat
* stakebody
* stake-driver
* Stakeford
* stakeholder
* stake of Zion
* table stakes
* torture stake

#### Translations
### Verb

stake (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.
    Synonyms: bet, hazard, wager
** 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

* stake a claim
* stake one's life
* stake out
* stakeout

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Further reading

* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “stake”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* Keast, Keats, Skate, Skeat, kates, ketas, skate, steak, takes, teaks

## Dutch
### Verb

stake
* (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of steken
* (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of staken

### Anagrams

* kaste

## Middle English
### Etymology 1

From Old English staca, from Proto-West Germanic *stakō, from Proto-Germanic *stakô.

#### Alternative forms

* staak, stack, stak

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈstaːk(ə)/

#### Noun

stake (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

* staken
* stakyng

##### Descendants

* English: stake
* Scots: stak, staik
* → Irish: stáca, staic

##### References

* “stāke, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-12-02.

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

stake
* Alternative form of staken

## Swedish
### Etymology

From Old Swedish staki, from Old Norse staki, from Proto-Germanic *stakô, from Proto-Indo-European *steg-.

### Noun

stake c
* Synonym of ljusstake (“candlestick; candelabrum”)
* (colloquial, vulgar) a hard-on (penile erection)
    Synonyms: (colloquial) ståfräs, (colloquial) fjong, (colloquial) bånge, stånd
* (slang, uncountable) balls; courage, assertiveness

#### Related terms

* ljusstake
* adventsljusstake

### References

* stake in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* stake in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* stake in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
* Fula Ordboken

### Anagrams

* steka