parlay
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɑːleɪ/
ipa: /ˈpɑɹˌleɪ/
ipa: /ˈpɑɹli/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)leɪ
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)li
homophone: parley (US, one pronunciation)
Forms: form: parlays
form: parlaying
form: parlayed
form: parlayed
form: parley
Etymology: The verb is derived from paroli (“cumulative bet in card games”), possibly modified under the influence of French parler (“to speak, talk”). Paroli is derived from French paroli (“double stake”), from Italian paroli, plural of parolo (first-person singular present indicative of parare (“to protect or shield (from); to prepare”), from Latin parāre, present active infinitive of parō (“to arrange, prepare; to furnish, provide”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; to carry forth, fare”)) + Italian -lo (suffix meaning ‘it; this or that thing’).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Senses: topics: gambling
games
glosses: To carry forward the stake and winnings from a bet on to a subsequent wager or series of wagers.
examples: text: Shall we parlay the value of our products?
glosses: To increase (an asset, money, etc.) by gambling or investing in a daring manner.
examples: text: They believe that if [Roy] Harris can maintain his standing among the leading heavyweights, they can parlay this rating with Texas enthusiasm and oil money into enticing Floyd Patterson into coming down and defending his heavyweight title against Roy.
ref: 1957 October 5, W[ilfred] C[harles] Heinz, “Battler from the Backwoods”, in Ben Hibbs, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 230, number 14, Philadelphia, Pa.; London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 71, column 2:
text: K[avalam] M[adhava] Panikkar's concept of Indian Ocean regional security, the Indian-inspired Colombo Plan, [Jawaharlal] Nehru's architectonic role in the creation of the Nasser–Nehru–Tito neutralist axis and the Bandung gambit of legitimizing China's entry into the constraints of the comity of nations were efforts to parlay general Indian weakness into strength, its positions of regional strength into hegemony, and resultant regional hegemony into parity with China in a peace of peers.
ref: 1968, Wayne Wilcox, “China’s Strategic Alternatives in South Asia”, in Tang Tsou, editor, China’s Policies in Asia and America’s Alternatives (China in Crisis; 2), Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, published 1969, →ISBN, page 408:
text: Guatemala has remained a society organized to harness an impoverished, segmented rural labor force for the production of exports that a small landowning elite, in partnership with foreign commercial interests, parlays into profit in world markets.
ref: 1984, Laurel Herbenar Bossen, “Appendix One: Historical Background of Guatemala”, in The Redivision of Labor: Women and Economic Choice in Four Guatemalan Communities (SUNY Series in the Anthropology of Work), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 321:
text: [Oliver] Stone's vision, to decode the top secret message hidden in the CIA archives, parlays conspiracy theory onto screen memory, and as he clearly hopes, into history.
ref: 1994, Elizabeth A. Fay, “Romancing the Heroine, Reading the Self: Same Difference”, in Donaldo Macedo, editor, Eminent Rhetoric: Language, Gender, and Cultural Tropes (Series in Language and Ideology), Westport, Conn.; London: Bergin & Garvey, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 77:
text: [Petra] Epperlein and [Michael] Tucker focus on two featherweight hopefuls: Dustin Poirier, a formidable contender who's looking to parlay a history of schoolyard violence and street-fighting into a potential career, and Albert Stainback, a more thoughtful yet more erratic and undisciplined fighter whose chief gimmick is entering the ring wearing a hat like the one Malcolm McDowell wore in A Clockwork Orange.
ref: 2002 April 19, Scott Tobias, “Fightville”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2019:
text: She knew she should put off thinking about starting up anything until after finishing her cookie column commitment … and figuring out how to parlay that into a job that would carry her into the new year and beyond.
ref: 2013 October, Donna Kauffman, “Where There’s Smoke …”, in The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing, →ISBN, chapter 3, page 67:
text: [Mike] Skinner retired the Streets in 2011 after five albums that successfully parlayed UK garage to Oasis fans (and everyone else), earning much adulation, a No 1 – Dry Your Eyes, from 2004's A Grand Don't Come for Free – and the counterweight of occupational hazards.
ref: 2019 June 1, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Jan 2019:
text: Victoria's Secret, the American retailer that once parlayed a “sex sells” strategy into a $7bn-revenue-empire of underwear, is heading back to TV screens.
ref: 2023 September 30, Chantal Fernandez, “Changing the formula”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 5:
qualifier: generally
glosses: To convert (a situation, thing, etc.) into something better.
examples: text: "That is droll. Listen yet one time. You are very spiritual. Can you make a honorable lady of Her?" / "Don't be so malicious," says Mr. Bucket. / "Or a haughty gentleman of Him?" cries Madamoiselle, referring to Sir Leicester with ineffable disdain. "Eh! O then regard him! The poor infant! Ha! ha! ha!" / "Come, come, why this is worse Parlaying than the other," says Mr. Bucket. "Come along!"
ref: 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Springing a Mine”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 527:
text: Jack "parlayed" with them until he had completed his task, and then he closed the gate in their faces.
ref: 1865, “Tom the Giant—His Wife Jane, and Jack the Tinkeard, as Told by the ‘Drolls’”, in Robert Hunt, editor, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (First Series), London: John Camden Hotten, […], →OCLC, page 45:
glosses: Alternative spelling of parley (“to have a discussion, especially one between enemies”).