Stake Meaning
/steɪk/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA 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.
nounA 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.
Sentence Examples
We have a substantial stake in the venture.
There's a lot of money at stake in this transaction.
A 20 per cent stake in the business
CEFR Practice Quiz
The gardener tied the tomato plant to a wooden ____ for support.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He drove a wooden ____ into the ground to mark the spot where the new fence post was going to be placed.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A sharpened stake strong Dryas found."
— 1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"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."
— 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 106:
"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."
— 2021 February 10, Richard Clinnick, “Eurostar boost as French promise aid”, in RAIL, number 924, page 10:
"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."
— 1910, Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge:
"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."
— 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The gardener tied the tomato plant to a wooden ____ for support.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He drove a wooden ____ into the ground to mark the spot where the new fence post was going to be placed.