bet

CEFRB1

/ˈbɛt/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    maintain with or as if with a bet.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    A candidate (for elections and pageants) or competitor (in multinational sports).

Examples

  • I'll bet he'd have a fit if his students fell asleep.

  • The best bet on a rainy day is to remain indoors.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. Indicating a degree of certainty, or that something can be relied upon.

  2. To place money into the pot in order to require others do the same, usually only used for the first person to place money in the pot on each round.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A wager, an agreement between two parties that a stake (usually money) will be paid by the loser to the winner (the winner being the one who correctly forecast the outcome of an event).

More examples

In context

  • You have to be over 16 to bet.

  • Dylan owes Fletcher $30 from an unsuccessful bet.

  • It’s a safe bet that it will rain tomorrow.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

I will blank you twenty dollars that it rains before noon tomorrow.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From 16th-century criminal slang, perhaps from Middle English bet (“something better, advantage, luck”), from Old English bet, bett (“better”, adverb); or, alternatively from abet, from Middle English abet, abette, from Old French abet (“incitement to evil”), from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”); ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *baitijan (“to bait, entice”), related to Old English bǣtan (“to bait”). More at abet.