stake

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /steɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: steak
• Rhymes: -eɪk

Etymology

From Middle English stake, from Old English staca (“pin, tack, stake”), 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.

Noun

stake (plural stakes)

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.

   We have surveyor's stakes at all four corners of this field, to mark exactly its borders.

   • (Can we date this quote?), Dryden

     A sharpened stake strong Dryas found.

   1. (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.
2. A stick 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.
3. (with definite article) The piece of timber to which a martyr was affixed to be burned.

   Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake.

4. A share or interest in a business or a given situation.

   The owners let the managers eventually earn a stake in the business.

5. That which is laid down as a wager; that which is staked or hazarded; a pledge.
6. 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 upon, etc.
7. (Mormonism) A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Schaff-Herzog Encyc.

     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

• burn at the stake
• pull up stakes
• stake of Zion

Related terms

• (wager or pledge): at stake

Translations

piece of wood

• Albanian: hu
• Belarusian: кол m (kol)
• Bulgarian: кол (bg) m (kol)
• Catalan: pal (ca) m, estaca f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 木樁, 木桩 (zh) (mùzhuāng)

• Czech: kůl m, tyčka f, kolík m
• Dutch: staak (nl)
• Esperanto: paliso, paliseto
• Finnish: seiväs (fi), paalu (fi), tolppa (fi)
• French: pieu (fr) m, pal (fr) m, tuteur (fr) m, jalon (fr) m
• German: Pfahl (de) m, Pflock (de) m
• Greek: πάσσαλος (el) n (pássalos), παλούκι (el) m (paloúki)
• Hungarian: karó (hu)
• Ido: paliso (io)
• Irish: cuaille m
• Italian: palo (it) m, paletto m, picchetto m, piolo (it) m, stecca (it) f
• Japanese: 棒 (ja) (ぼう, bō), 杭 (ja) (くい, kui)
• Korean: 말뚝 (malttuk)
• Latin: tālea f, pālus m, stilus m, sudis f
• Latvian: miets (lv) m

• Luxembourgish: Poul m
• Macedonian: кол m (kol)
• Malay: galah
• Maori: tia, titi
• Norwegian: stake m, påle m
• Polish: pal (pl) m, kół m
• Portuguese: estaca (pt) f
• Romanian: par (ro) m
• Russian: кол (ru) m (kol), столб (ru) m (stolb), подпорка (ru) f (podpórka), колышек (ru) m (kólyšek) (small, tent stake)
• Sardinian:

  Gallurese Sardinian: stantagliu

  Logudorese Sardinian: albaranu, longupànte

• Scottish Gaelic: stob m
• Serbo-Croatian: колац m, kolac (sh) m
• Slovak: kôl m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: koł m

• Spanish: estaca (es) f
• Swedish: stör (sv), påle (sv)
• Turkish: kazık (tr)
• Ukrainian: кіл (uk) m (kil)

upright stick to prevent goods falling off a cart

• Finnish: tolppa (fi)

• Italian: palo (it) m, stecca (it) f, sponda (it) f
• Russian: щеколда (ru) f (ščekólda), кол (ru) m (kol)

timber to which a martyr was affixed to be burned

• Czech: kůl m
• Esperanto: fosto (eo)
• Finnish: paalu (fi)
• French: pieu (fr) m
• German: Marterpfahl m

• Italian: rogo (it)
• Norwegian: påle m
• Russian: столб (ru) m (stolb)
• Swedish: påle (sv)

share or interest in a business

• Danish: interessent (da)
• Finnish: osuus (fi)
• French: participation (fr)
• Italian: partecipazione (it), interesse (it)
• Norwegian: aksje (no) m

• Russian: доля (ru) f (dólja), процент (ru) m (procént), участие (ru) n (učástije), пай (ru) m (paj)
• Spanish: participación (es)
• Turkish: pay (tr), çıkar (tr)

wager or pledge

• Finnish: panos (fi)
• French: enjeu (fr) m, mise (fr) f
• Italian: posta (it), in gioco, in palio

• Norwegian: interesse (no) m, risiko m
• Polish: stawka (pl) f
• Russian: ставка (ru) f (stávka)

Mormonism

• Czech: kůl m

• Russian: кол (ru) m (kol)

Verb

stake (third-person singular simple present stakes, present participle staking, simple past and past participle staked)

1. (transitive) To fasten, support, defend, or delineate with stakes.

   to stake vines or plants.

2. (transitive) To pierce or wound with a stake.
3. (transitive) To put at risk upon success in competition, or upon a future contingency.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Alexander Pope

     I'll stake yon lamb, that near the fountain plays.

4. (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.

Synonyms

• (put at risk): wager, bet

Derived terms

• stake a claim
• stake out

Translations

To fasten, support, or defend with stakes

• Portuguese: estacar
• Russian: укреплять (ru) impf (ukr'epl'át'), укрепить (ru) pf (ukr'epít'); подпирать (ru) (podpir'át'), подпереть (ru) (podp'er'ét')

• Spanish: estacar (es)

To pierce or wound with a stake

• Portuguese: estacar

• Spanish: estacar (es)

To put at hazard upon the issue of competition

• Russian: ставить на карту (stavitʹ na kartu), ставить на кон (stavitʹ na kon)

• Spanish: poner en juego

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 賭, ^{(please verify)} 赌
• German: ^{(please verify)} anpflocken, ^{(please verify)} anbinden, ^{(please verify)} hochbinden, ^{(please verify)} pfählen
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} picchettare, ^{(please verify)} scommettere

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} estacar
• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} kolac
• Slovene: ^{(please verify)} grmada

Anagrams

• Keats
• skate
• steak
• takes

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Dutch

Verb

stake

1. (archaic) singular past subjunctive of steken
2. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of staken

Anagrams

• kaste

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Swedish

Noun

stake c

1. (short for ljusstake) candlestick
2. (vulgar) erection
3. (vulgar) erect penis
4. (slang, uncountable) guts, spine; courage, assertiveness

Declension

Declension of stake

	singular		plural
Common	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	stake	staken	stakar	stakarna
genitive	stakes	stakens	stakars	stakarnas

Related terms

• ljusstake
• adventsljusstake