Stake

English Meaning

A piece of wood, usually long and slender, pointed at one end so as to be easily driven into the ground as a support or stay; as, a stake to support vines, fences, hedges, etc.

1. A piece of wood or metal pointed at one end for driving into the ground as a marker, fence pole, or tent peg.
2. A vertical post to which an offender is bound for execution by burning.
3. Execution by burning. Used with the: condemned to the stake.
4. A vertical post secured in a socket at the edge of a platform, as on a truck bed, to help retain the load.
5. Mormon Church A territorial division consisting of a group of wards under the jurisdiction of a president.
6. Sports & Games Money or property risked in a wager or gambling game. Often used in the plural. See Synonyms at bet.
7. Sports & Games The prize awarded the winner of a contest or race.
8. Sports & Games A race offering a prize to the winner, especially a horserace in which the prize consists of money contributed equally by the horse owners.
9. A share or an interest in an enterprise, especially a financial share.
10. Personal interest or involvement: a stake in her children's future.
11. A grubstake.
12. To mark the location or limits of with or as if with stakes: stake out a claim.
13. To claim as one's own: staked out a place for herself in industry.
14. To fasten, secure, or support with a stake or stakes.
15. To tether or tie to a stake.
16. To gamble or risk; hazard.
17. To provide working capital for; finance.
18. stake out To assign (a police officer, for example) to an area to conduct surveillance.
19. stake out To keep under surveillance.
20. at stake At risk; in question.