| 释义 |
▪ I. stake, n.1|steɪk|
Forms: 1 staca, 5, 7 stak, 5–6 Sc. and north. staik (6 steyk), 6 stack, 6–7 stacke, 3– stake.
[OE. staca wk. masc. corresponds to OFris., MDu. stake masc. and fem. (Du. staak masc.), (M)LG. stake (whence MHG., mod.G. stake, staken, and prob. MSw. staki, Sw., Norw. stake, Da. stage), f. *stak- ablaut-var. of *stek- to pierce, thrust in: see steke, stick vbs. The Teut. word was adopted in Rom. as Pr., Sp., Pg. estaca, OF. estaque, estache, It. stacca: see stacket, estacade.]
1. a. A stout stick or post, usually of wood, with a pointed end for driving into the ground; used e.g. to mark a boundary or site, to support a plant, to secure an animal, to form one of the component parts of a fence, hedge, or the like.
c893ælfred Oros. v. v, Ac þære ilcan niht þe mon on dæᵹ hæfde þa burᵹ mid stacum ᵹemearcod, swa [etc.]. c1000Sax. Leechd. I. 395, & sleah ænne stacan on middan þam ymbhaᵹan & leᵹe þone stan on uppan þam stacan. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 338 On a stake of pere-tre. 1390Gower Conf. II. 83 A tente of cloth with corde and stake He sette up ferst. c1420Avow. Arth. xvii, The hed of that hardy, He sette on a stake. a1440Sir Degrev. 1120 Syxty stedus he wan, And brouȝth to stak. c1440[see staking vbl. n. b]. 1523Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 13 Dyvers newe Weris, Gores, Stakes and Engyns have bene levyd and enhauncid; By reason wherof, the said Haven is greatly decayed ageyn. 1534in J. Croft Excerpta Ant. (1797) 17 For a Steyk of vj Nyks for Stapys to a Grese, ij d. 1667Primatt City & C. Build. 93 The Ground is not firm to build on, but doth require stakes to be droven. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xv. §144 The man was drawn by a horse to the gallows..and buried under it, with a stake driven through him, as is usual in the case of self-murderers. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 117, I set my Dog to guard it in the Night, tying him up to a Stake at the Gate. 1784Cowper Task iv. 437 The farmer's hedge, Plash'd neatly, and secur'd with driven stakes Deep in the loamy bank. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 255 We find it completely fenced across with stout stakes.
fig.1567Gude & Godlie Ball. 186 O cankerit carionnis, and o ye rottin stakis. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. ii. §3 As the truth is, their ministers forrein estimation hitherto hath beene the best stake in their hedge. 1630Prynne Anti-Armin. 123 Thus to plucke vp all the stakes, the bounds of Gods eternal Decrees.
Proverbial uses.a1300Cursor M. 7526 Bot þar he stod als still os stake. 1390Gower Conf. III. 8, I fro hire go Ne mai, bot as it were a stake, I stonde. 1546J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 29 For any great courtesie he doth make, It seemth the gentill man hath eaten a stake. a1637B. Jonson Underwoods, Celebr. Charis ix, Dressed, you still for man should take him! And not think h' had eat a stake.
b. A post upon which persons were bound for execution, esp. by burning. Hence the stake is used as a name for the punishment of death by burning.
c1205Lay. 16684 Samuel nom Agag þene king..& lette hine swiðe sterke to ane stake binde. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1694 And he that is at meschief shal be take And noght slayn but be broght vn to the stake That shal ben ordeyned. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) ix. 35 Scho was..bun by a stake and fagotes of thornes..laide aboute hir. 1563–83Foxe A. & M. II. 1623 When they came to the stake in Smithfielde to bee burned, M. Bradford lying prostrate on the one side of the stake, and..John Leafe on the other side. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iii. 44 Curse Miscreant, when thou comst to the stake. 1600Aberdeen Reg. (1848) II. 209 The persoun convict thairof..sall be bund to ane staik within the floode merk during the space of thre houris, quhill the water flow round about him. 1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xix. 125 When Religion is at the stake, there must be no lookers on. 1722De Foe Moll Flanders (1840) 277 To be burnt to death at a stake. 1829Hood Eugene Aram 204 And my red right hand grows raging hot, Like Cranmer's at the stake. 1852Thackeray Esmond i. v, ‘I know I would go to the stake for you,’ said Harry. 1872Morley Voltaire (1886) 7 When..the fortunes of the fight do not hurry the combatant to dungeon or stake.
c. The post to which a bull or bear was fastened to be baited.
1546J. Heywood Prov. i. ix. (1867) 17 With as good will as a beare goth to the stake. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. iv. i. 48 Octa. Let vs do so: for we are at the stake, And bayed about with many Enemies. 1616W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iv. 98 Saw you a lusty Mastiue at the stake Throwne from a cunning Bull.
d. A post pointed at both ends for use in military defensive work (see quot. 1876).
1297R. Glouc. Chron. (Rolls) 1171 Stakes of ire monion he piȝte in temese grounde Aboue ssarpe & kene inou bineþ grete & rounde. c1450Brut ii. ccxliv. 378 He bade euery man to orden hym a stake of tre, and scharp both endis, þat þe stake myȝt be pyght yn the erthe a-slop, þat hir enymyez schulde not ouyr-ryde hem. 1634Milton Comus 491 Com not too neer, you fall on iron stakes else. 1876Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict., Stakes, small pieces of wood..used as an obstacle against the advance of an attacking force, being sharply pointed and driven into the ground until only 1 foot or 2 feet project.
e. Phrases. (U.S.) to pick up stakes, pull up stakes, move stakes: to move one's habitation. Similarly to drive stakes, set stakes, to stick one's stakes: to pitch one's camp or tent, to settle. to tie (someone) to the stake: see tie v. 2.
1703S. Sewall Diary 15 Apr. (1879) II. 76 Went to my Bounds, asserted them,..then ordered Kibbe to pull up the Stakes. Told Mr. Lynde's Tenants what my Bounds were..; forwarn'd them of coming there to set any Stakes. 1817J. K. Paulding Lett. from South I. 83 When they have exhausted one hunting-ground, [the Indians] pull up stakes, and incontinently march off to another. 1830Massachusetts Spy 15 Dec. (Thornton Amer. Gloss. s.v. Pull), Our departed emigrants pulled up stakes, and returned post haste to the good old town of Springfield. 1869B. Harte Luck of Roaring Camp 178 He built the shanty..lest titles should fall through, and we'd have to get up and move stakes farther down. 1872Schele de Vere Americanisms 184 Where he settles, there he stakes or sticks his stakes. 1906Outing (U.S.) Feb. 605/2 After drifting about several years I finally drove stakes on the Spokane River. 1924‘R. Daly’ Outpost xvii. 165 I've sometimes thought of pulling up stakes and pushing further into the mountains. 1949Boston Globe 15 May (Fiction Mag.) 6/2 We'll set our stakes, an' I'll slip down to Dawson an' record the claim. 1974M. Allen Super Tour (1975) i. 23 ‘I'm assuming you're in a position to pick up stakes in a hurry.’ ‘As long as it will take to pack two bags.’ 1980Dallas Times Herald 10 May (Week End Suppl.) 6/1 The economic incentive that Europeans once had to pull up stakes and move to America.
2. collect. sing. Stakes used as a framework or support in fencing and hedging; esp. as a basis for the intertwining, wattling, or plashing of brushwood or other materials.
a. stake (earlier † stakes) and rice (rice n. 2) Sc. and north.: a fence, hurdle, or partition made with these materials; also attrib.
1457Sc. Acts Jas. II, §30 (1814) II. 51/2 Þt na man mak gardes nor heggis of dry staikes na Rys or stykis. 1471–2Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 644 Pro posicione del stakez et ryss. 1536Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. 260 To big the wal betwix Abircorne and Dunbritane, with staik and rise. 1584Hudson Du Bartas' Judith iv, On stake and ryce hee knits the crooked vines, And snoddes their bowes. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 278 Hurdles, (vulgarly called stake and rice) may be made round the links. 1821[see stab n.2 1]. 1858R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma lxv. 295 Giving his horse a good dig with his spurs, he lifted him over a stiff stake-and-rice fence.
b. stake and band, bond, bound: see quot. 1805.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Plate xxxiii, The form of dead hedge usually termed stake and band, and sometimes stake and rise. In it the dead materials are wattled in between strong stakes. Ibid. 141 A stake and band hedge. 1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Livingstone iv, Instead of taking the stake-and-bound at the weakest place, he rode at the strongest. 1902Cornish Naturalist on Thames 161 This is the universal ‘stake and bond’ hedge of the shires, impenetrable to cattle.
c. stake and rider (see rider n. 12 d), a fence made of stakes with a top bar; also attrib.; hence stake-and-ridered adj. Chiefly N. Amer.
1829Massachusetts Spy 11 Feb. (Thornton Amer. Gloss.), [He met] a man in a lane with a stake-and-rider fence on each side. 1846Knickerbocker XXVII. 208 Already the ‘stake and ridered’ fence was beginning to enclose the cleared land. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 443 Stake and rider, a species of fence higher and stronger than a ‘worm fence’. 1884G. W. Cable Dr. Sevier II. liv. 175 Again they followed him along a line of stake-and-rider fence. 1895Century Mag. Aug. 625/2 The stake-and-ridered fences everywhere. 1950Pennsylvania Dutchman Jan. 3/3 He could do nothing better than to quickly place his gun behind him in a corner of a stake-and-rider fence.
†3. A rung (of a ladder). Obs. rare.
c1440Jacob's Well xxxiii. 215 He sytteth on þe netherest stake of þis laddere in helle. Ibid., Iche of hem sytteth a-bouyn oþer on þis leddere on dyuers stakys.
†4. ? A stick (of a fan). Obs. rare.
1640–1Kirkcudbright War-Comm. Minute Bk. (1855) 44 Delyverit..ane silver coupe, ane stak of ane fann, [etc.].
5. Technical uses.
a. A small anvil used by metal-workers, esp. one with a tang for fitting into a socket on a bench. Also, a tool used by watchmakers and jewellers (see quot. 1884).
1660in Archæologia XI. 101 Armorers Tooles..Tramping Stakes. Round stake. Welting stakes. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. ii. 20 The Stake is a small Anvil..which either stands upon a broad Iron foot..on the work-bench..or else it hath a strong Iron spike at bottom, which..is let into..the work-bench. 1843Holtzapffel Turning I. 386 The smaller anvils, which are called stakes,..are of progressively smaller sizes. 1884F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 214 Polishing Stake, a square polished surface of steel on which red⁓stuff and other polishing material is mixed. It is usually enclosed in a box. Ibid. 228 Riveting Stake, a cube of steel..pierced with a series of different sized holes for the reception of arbors... A jointed stake..hinged at one end..is handy in some cases. Ibid. 246 A stake with a beak to it.., a form much used by jewellers.
b. Leather-manuf. (See quot. 1897.)
1853Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 63 The workman holding the extremities of the skin with both hands, pulls it in all directions..against the smoothing ‘stake’. 1897C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xx. (ed. 2) 274 The hand stake..was an upright wooden stake, some two feet in length and eight inches in width into the tapering top of which was fixed a broad steel blade. The skin was drawn across this blade.
c. Each of the stanchions or posts which fit into sockets or staples on a trolley, wagon or boat to prevent the load from slipping off. Also ellipt. for stake-body truck (sense 7 below). N. Amer. colloq.
1875–84Knight Dict. Mech. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 50/3 (Advt.), Immediate delivery on new pick-ups, panels, vans and stakes. Ibid., Ford 2½ ton stake with covered compartment for carrying personnel. 1978Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. f13/7 (Advt.), 1978 Chevy truck sale. Pickups. Elcaminos. Stakes. Stepvans.
d. Basket-making. Each of the longest foundation-rods of a basket or the like. (Webster, 1911.)
1903,1910[see league n.2 4]. 1959D. Wright Baskets & Basketry vi. 136 Stakes, rods driven in with the bottom sticks to form the foundation of the sides of a basket. 1964H. Hodges Artifacts x. 146 Most baskets were made by first weaving a base, although solid wooden bases drilled to take the uprights, or stakes, were occasionally used.
6. In the Mormon Church: A territorial division; the see or jurisdiction of a Mormon bishop. [? Suggested by Isa. liv. 2, 3.] Also Stake (in or of) Zion.
[1833J. Smith in Linn Story of Mormons (1902) 120 It is expedient in me that this Stake that I have set for the strength of Zion be made strong. 1839Ibid., I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called Stakes for the curtains, or the strength of Zion.] 1843H. Caswall Prophet of 19th Cent. 90 Other ‘churches’ established by ‘revelations’ given to Smith, are called ‘Stakes of Zion’, or simply ‘Stakes’. 1857Southern Illinoisian (Shawneetown) 1 May 1/3 Throughout the States and Territories, at various and convenient locations, the Mormons have what are termed ‘stakes in Zion’, and each stake is governed by a Presidency. 1870J. H. Beadle Life in Utah 124 All the wealthy members were to follow him to western Pennsylvania, and establish a new ‘stake’ for the others to gather to! 1882–3Schaff's Encycl. Relig. Knowl. II. 1578 Every city, or ‘stake’, including a chief town and surrounding towns. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 828 The [Mormon] church is made up of 23 stakes, each having a president. 1905Out West Sept. 246 The Stakes of Zion, I will explain, are those gathering places of the Saints that are outside of Zion proper—Jackson county, Missouri, where the holy city it is believed will yet be built. 1961Guardian 23 Jan. 2/3 The share of the Manchester ‘stake’ (stake is roughly the Mormon for diocese) is {pstlg}2 million. 1976Times 18 June (Spec. Rep. Mormons) p. iii/7 A stake is administered by local lay members.
7. attrib. and Comb., as stake-beetle (beetle n.1 1), stake-fence, stake-hedge, stake-hole, stake-pole, stake-rest; (sense 6) stake centre, stake house, stake president; stake-boat, a boat moored or otherwise fixed to serve as a starting-point or mark for racing boats; also, a fixed boat to which other boats may be moored; stake-body U.S., a body for a lorry, etc., which has an open, flat platform fitted with removable stakes (sense 5 c) along the sides in order to retain the load; also attrib. in stake-body truck, a lorry fitted with such a body; stake-driver U.S., the bittern, Botaurus mugitans; stake-fellow, a fellow-sufferer at the stake; stake-hang dial., stake-head (see quots.); stake-iron, (a) a nail-maker's stake (sense 5 a); (b) = sense 5 c; † stake nail (see quot.); stake-net, a fishing net usually set between tide-marks or in shallow water, secured in a vertical position by means of stakes; stake-pocket, a socket for a stake of a platform car (Cent. Dict. 1891); stake-presidency, the presidency of a Mormon stake (see sense 6); † stake-stubber, one who removes (boundary) stakes; † stake-stuck a., that stands like a stake; stake-truck = stake-body truck above; † stake willow, a kind of willow used for the making of stakes.
1638–40Min. Archdeaconry of Essex (MS.) 140 b, He tooke two stakes and knockt them in with a *stake beetle.
1839Spirit of Times 13 July 217/2 After a smart pull for it, she [sc. a boat] overhauled them one by one, passing the Washington about half way to the *stake-boat. 1884Pall Mall Gaz. 4 Apr. 8 The Cambridge crew..paddled away..to their stake-boat on the Middlesex side of the river. 1902Federal Reports CXIII. 926 The tug left the tow in order to engage in other work, picking up light boats, and towing them down to a stake boat off Liberty Island. 1943A. Gibbs U-Boat Prisoner 121 We went over to Jersey and took a motorboat to what he called a stake boat, where we found the barge.
1907Cycle & Auto. Trade Jrnl. 1 Feb. 390 (caption) Studebaker 3½ ton paying load truck with *stake body. 1913Hub July 123 (caption) Universal Chain Drive Stake Body Truck. 1976Washington Post 19 Apr. d3/5 (Advt.), Discount center for stake bodies, step vans, medium duty trucks, [etc.]. 1978J. Gores Gone, no Forwarding (1979) 4 He..opened the door of his stake-body truck.
1976Times 18 June (Spec. Rep. Mormons) p. iii/7 Twenty stakes are now functioning, most of them headquartered in new *stake centre church buildings.
1872Coues N. Amer. Birds 269 Botaurus. Bittern... *Stake-driver. 1889H. Saunders Brit. Birds 374 The note of the male..is..like the noise made by driving a stake in boggy soil, whence its common name of ‘Stake-’ or ‘Post-driver’.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1148/1 [He] bad his bedfellow and sworne *stakefellow.. maister Saunders farewell.
1882W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! I. vii. 190 A *stake-fence ought to be proof against both pigs and cattle. 1913J. Masefield Daffodil Fields 46 Beside the stake-fence Lion stopped.
1825J. Jennings Observ. Dial. W. Eng. 141 A knaw'd all about tha *stake-hangs Tha zalmon vor ta catch. Ibid. Gloss., Stake-hang,..a kind of circular hedge made of stakes, forced into the sea-shore..for the purpose of catching salmon, and other fish.
1828–32Webster, *Stake-head, in rope-making, a stake with wooden pins in the upper side to keep the strands apart.
1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., *Stake-hedge, one made of thorns or wood,..wattled or ethered from three to four feet high.
1977*Stake-hole [see post-hole 1].
1930L. Foster Larry 131 Then we all paraded down to the *Stake House (Mormon Districts are called ‘Stakes’), where there was a pioneer's meeting.
1832Babbage Econ. Manuf. i. 14 He puts this [piece of red-hot iron] into a hole in a small *stake-iron immediately under a hammer connected with a treadle. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Stake-iron Bender, a machine for bending stake-irons for the bolsters of wagons.
1688Holme Armoury iii. 300/1 *Stake Nails, or Sadlers Tacks.
1836Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 23 It is not unusual to have *stake nets placed in the reverse position, with the courts open to the ebb-tide. 1936Sun (Baltimore) 17 Feb. 7/1 A number of Rock Hall fishermen walked from their homes over the ice in the Chesapeake Bay to their stake nets near Tolchester Beach the past week, cut out their nets, and landed three hundred pounds of rock fish. 1973W. Elmer Terminol. Fishing ii. 73 The stake net is a fixed net now only found on the south-west coast of Scotland.
1883C. A. Moloney W. Afr. Fisheries (Fish. Exhib. Publ.) 24 These baskets are secured to *stake-poles or sticks, laid out in parallel lines.
1909Century Dict. Suppl., *Stake-presidency.
1947G. S. Perry Cities of Amer. iii. 39 Each *stake president will parcel out the acreages he has agreed to accept among his bishops, and each bishop will divide his commitment among the Saints in his ward.
1891Century Dict., *Stake-rest, on a railway platform car, a device for supporting a stake when turned down horizontally.
1562J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 161 But if *stake stoobbers will not let stakis stand, Blame not the stake.
1741in C. Whibley In Cap & Gown (1898) 37 Ev'n *stake-stuck Clarians strove to stoop.
1907Cycle & Auto. Trade Jrnl. 1 Jan. 346a (caption) Five-ton Imperial *Stake Truck. 1975C. Weston Susannah Screaming xxvi. 137 An old stake truck passed him, the back jammed with long-haired college-age kids.
1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. 103 b, The other kinde [of willow]..seruing for stayes to Vines..or stakes of Hedges, and is called *stake Wyllowe [L. quæ perticalis dicitur].
▪ II. stake, n.2|steɪk|
[Of uncertain etymology.
Perh. f. stake v.3 On the alternative supposition that the n. is the source of the vb., the former may be the same word as stake n.1 The peculiar use might have been developed from the phrase on the stake, which may originally have referred to a custom of placing on a ‘stake’ or post the object (an article of clothing or the like) hazarded on the event of a game or contest. There is, however, no evidence of the existence of such a custom; and in our quots. the first example of the phrase is dated 1592, while the use of the n. to denote the money risked on a game of dice is more than half a century older.]
1. a. That which is placed at hazard; esp. a sum of money or other valuable commodity deposited or guaranteed, to be taken by the winner of a game, race, contest, etc.
1540Palsgr. Acolastus iv. iii. T j, All the stakes and settynges that be sette within the dyce borde, whiche lye on lyttell heapes. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 248 A Foole, That seest a Game play'd home, the rich Stake drawne, And tak'st it all for ieast. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 41 He that winnes the game, gets not only the maine Stake, but all the Bets by follow the fortune of his hand. 1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 88 Let who will be the gamesters, he is sure to sweep the stakes. 1808Scott Marm. i. xxii, Full well at tables can he play And sweep at bowls the stake away. 1821― Kenilw. ii, Our landlord here shall hold stakes. 1878H. Gibbs Ombre 9 Even at low stakes one may lose or gain enough to give interest to the game. 1884Tennyson Cup i. iii. 79 [I] am no such gamester As, having won the stake, would dare the chance Of double or losing all.
b. fig. and in figurative context.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 403 b, Upon what grew this inequabilitie and parcialitie of dispensation [of pardons], if there were no stakes layed doune for the game? 1601Ld. Mountjoy in Moryson's Itin. (1617) ii. 145 For now Jacta est alea between England and Spaine and we that doe play the game have least interest in the stake. 1681Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 457 The Sword, Which for no less a Stake than Life you Draw. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 863 Can'st thou..Lay such a stake upon the losing side, Merely to gratify so blind a guide? 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. x. 278 The royalists in England, who played so deep a stake on the king's account. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 121 The prize was small..and the stake large, but they staked and lost it.
c. fig. to have a stake in (an event, a concern, etc.): to have something to gain or lose by the turn of events, to have an interest in; esp. in to have a stake in the country (said of those who hold landed property). Hence spec., a shareholding (in a company).
1784Sir A. Dick in Boswell's Johnson (1904) II. 526 With my most affectionate wishes for Dr. Johnson's recovery, in which his friends, his country, and all mankind have so deep a stake. 1807Windham Sp. Ho. Comm. 22 July in Hansard IX. 897 Those entrusted with arms..should be persons of some substance and stake in the country. 1865Livingstone Zambesi Introd. 8 And will probably always have the largest commercial stake in the African continent. 1911H. Brown Hist. Scot. I. iv. viii. 281 Scotland came to have a stake in this struggle. 1955Times 4 Aug. 12/1 Pilkington Brothers, famous the world over for plate and other kinds of glass, is proposing to increase its stake in another hardly less famous glass business. 1969Listener 31 July 137/2 If the local paper has a stake in a local commercial station, this would tend to perpetuate the monopoly in local news and comment which has existed for too long in many provincial cities. 1981Times 6 May 24/7 (heading) Trafalgar House buys 14.9 pc stake in French Kier.
d. Phrases. † to part stakes: see part v. 10 b. Similarly † to share, divide stakes. to draw stakes, to withdraw what is staked as a wager, etc.
1554Philpot in Coverdale Lett. Martyrs (1564) 246 Communicate your necessities to me, and to others of his people, and God will make vs to deuide stakes. 1594J. Dickenson Arisbas (1878) 56 But belike the god himselfe ment to share stakes. 1653W. Ramesey Astrol. Restored 186 But after a tedious dispute they shall leave off and draw stakes. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 300 The King of Persia farms out the Mint to private Persons, who gain most by it, and share stakes with the money-changers. 1708[see draw v. 37]. 1758Goldsm. Mem. Protestant (1895) I. 43 After two or three Conferences, he drew Stakes and declined the Dispute.
2. In certain phrases: The condition of being staked. lit. and fig.
In some of the early quots. the n. in these phrases is taken (either by misapprehension or conscious word-play) as stake n.1 1 b.
†a. to be, lie at or on the stake, to put, lay, lay down or set (a thing) at stake or at the stake.
1592Greene Conny Catch. 7 So they vie and reuie til some ten shillings be on the stake. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 156 King. My honor's at the stake. 1601― Twel. N. iii. i. 129 Haue you not set mine Honor at the stake, And baited it with all th' vnmuzled thoughts That tyrannous heart can think. 1604― Oth. iv. ii. 13 æmil. I durst (my Lord) to wager, she is honest: Lay downe my Soule at stake. 1622Bacon Hen. VII (1876) 34 He..saw plainly that his kingdom must again be put to the stake, and that he must fight for it. a1660Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.) III. 9 All that is deere unto us and our posteritie is now at the last fatall stacke. 1663Butler Hud. i. i. 735 Are not our Liberties, our Lives, The Laws, Religion, and our Wives Enough at once to lye at stake? 1697Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 40 My Brinded Heifer to the Stake I lay;..Now back your Singing with an equal Stake.
b. fig. (To be) at stake, to have at stake.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 227, I see my reputation is at stake My fame is shrowdly gored. 1722Steele Consc. Lovers ii. i, I have more than Life at stake on your Fidelity. 1851Dixon W. Penn x. (1872) 85 His private case was nothing, while so great a principle was at stake. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 227 He may be fairly appealed to, when the honour of his master is at stake.
3. a. pl. in Horse-racing, Coursing, etc., the sums of money staked or subscribed by the owners who enter horses or dogs for a contest, the whole to be received as the prize by the owner of the winner or divided among the owners of the animals ‘placed’, as declared in the conditions of the contest. Hence in sing. (cf. sweepstake) a race for money thus staked or subscribed. Also in pl. with defining words as the designation of particular races or classes of races in which the sum of money staked is the prize as distinguished from a Plate (see plate n. 17), Cup, or the like.
produce stakes: (a) in Horse-racing, a race in which the runners must be the offspring of horses named and described at the time of entry; a produce race; (b) in Coursing, a race for puppies, i.e. for dogs of from one to two years of age; also called puppy stakes. sapling stakes: in Coursing, a race for saplings, i.e. dogs of less than one year old (see sapling 4 b). subscription stakes: in Horse-racing, a race for which subscribers of a fixed amount annually have the right to enter one or more horses.
1696Lond. Gaz. No. 3175/4 Strangers for the 30 l. Plate are to put in 4 l. and for the 20 l. Plate, 2 l. The Stakes are to go to the 2d Horse. 1730J. Cheny List Horse-Matches 86 On..the following Day was a Purse of 20 l. Sterling,..en. 2 Guineas, Stakes 10 Guineas. 1734Ibid. 1 The following five Year Olds started for a Purse of 600 Guineas, call'd the Wallasey Stakes. 1778in J. S. Fletcher Hist. St. Leger Stakes ii. 40 Tuesday, September 22.—The St. Leger Stakes of 25 gs. each, for three-year olds. 1833C. J. Apperley Turf (1852) 124 The system lately adopted of produce⁓stakes for half-bred horses. Ibid. 129 There are upwards of a hundred horses besides himself named for the stake [i.e. the Derby]. 18..Turf Expositor in Blaine Encycl. Rural Sports (1840) §1268. 364 Cocktails are horses which appear as racers, but are understood not to be thorough⁓bred... They run for hunters' stakes, and also for what are called half-bred stakes. 1840D. P. Blaine Ibid. §1288. 369 By the winning of stakes alone, if honesty did but conduct the race, much money might be won, so as to remunerate..the vast sums which are expended in breeding, rearing, and training the best blood. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. iii. viii. 205/2 Puppy Stakes... In all produce stakes, the description of the puppy to contain its name, age, and pedigree [etc.]. 1895Westm. Gaz. 30 Nov. 7/2 The cost [of horse-racing] is positively frightful in these days of heavy subscription stakes. 1898Encycl. Sport I. 201/2 (Coursing), It was in the year 1836 that the proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel in Liverpool improvised an eight-dog stake, which he styled the Waterloo Cup.
b. colloq. Used fig. with defining words to denote a particular business or way of life in which success is attained through competition.
c1885A. W. Pinero Magistrate (1892) i. 24 You nominated yourself for the Matrimonial Stakes. Mr. Farringdon's The Widow, by Bereavement, out of Mourning, ten pounds extra. 1885Sat. Rev. 7 Feb. 181/2 The hothouse kind of life..enabled this nervous, delicate, and curiously constituted competitor to win the Novel Stakes time after time. 1901G. B. Shaw Admirable Bashville ii. i. 309 Yet so threadbare as to accept these consolation stakes. 1926Galsworthy Silver Spoon ii. v. 145 He was not going to enter for the slander stakes. 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid iii. 34 Both the men looked as if they might be on the Jo Roncing [i.e. poncing] stakes. 1969Listener 3 Apr. 470/1 No music is more recuperative than Mozart's and, in the therapy stakes, none runs it as close as Webern's. 1977Spare Rib May 37/1 Energy and money were spent outdoing other girls in the beauty stakes.
4. slang. (See quot. 1812.) Also N. Amer., a grub-stake; a sum of money earned or saved; a store of provisions or sum of money necessary for survival during a certain period.
1738W. Byrd Hist. Dividing Line (1901) 178 [We] recommended to the men to manage this, their last stake, to best advantage. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict. s.v., A booty acquired by robbery, or a sum of money won at play, is called a stake, and if considerable, a prime stake, a heavy stake; a person alluding to any thing difficult to be procured..would say, I consider it a stake to get it at all. 1853‘P. Paxton’ Yankee in Texas 204 The horse is his last resource... When lost, the quondam owner is said to be flat broke or flat footed, and must beg, borrow, or steal, for a stake. 1873J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West 510 It is a splendid country to travel through; a miserable poor one to stop in to make a ‘stake’. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 114 He had made a pretty good stake, and wanted to go east for the winter. 1899‘J. Flynt’ Tramping i. i. 20 It is usually immaterial to him what happens to society as such so long as he [sc. a thief] can make a ‘stake’. 1931‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route xi. 117 A hobo may go to town with a stake and blow it in during two or three nights of slapping it up. 1946E. O'Neill Iceman Cometh i. 53 I'll make my stake and get my new gamblin' house open before you boys leave. 1966Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 21 Aug. 5/1 They [sc. loggers] seldom worked more than a few months in one place, just long enough to gather a stake, which they spent in a few days in town. 1978J. Updike Coup (1979) vii. 279, I worked in that oil town in the Rift..and when I had a little stake I hitched back to Istiqlal.
5. attrib. and Comb., as stake-money, stake-race; stakeholder, (a) one who holds the stake or stakes of a wager, etc.; (b) one who has a stake (sense 1 c) in something, esp. a business; stake-man U.S. slang, a hobo, a tramp.
1708Brit. Apollo No. 55. 2/1 Which will oblige Your Humble Servant *Stake Holder. 1815Sporting Mag. XLV. 231 A Bank of England note, which was lodged in the hands of a stake-holder as a deposit. 1858Ld. St. Leonards Handy-bk. Prop. Law iv. 20 Where the deposit is directed to be paid to the auctioneer, he is entitled to retain it until the contract is completed,..because he is considered as a stakeholder or depositary. 1965H. I. Ansoff Corporate Strategy iii. 34 The objectives of top management can and frequently do come in conflict with objectives of other stakeholders in the firm. 1975Economist 11 Jan. 79/2 A good few of the smaller stake-holders in the North Sea are now trying to find buyers so that they can get out. 1976R. E. Thomas Government of Business i. 22 Three approaches are considered here, the shareholder approach advocated by free enterprise theorists.., the stakeholder approach, as portrayed by Dahrendorf, and the Marxist approach. 1985Business Week 3 June 94/2 The oil giant had arranged to buy out two other major stakeholders, gaining majority control.
1899‘J. Flynt’ Tramping ii. v. 310 He learns to travel merely for travel's sake, and develops into a ‘*stake-man’, who only works long enough to get a ‘stake’ and then go off on a trip again. 1901Stake man [see bindle2 a].
1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 123 He fought Dutch Sam for his own *stake money.
1896H. M. Blossom Checkers ii. 20 Y' see, take a big *stake-race like this, where every horse is a ‘cracker-jack’,..and they've all got a chance. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1/5 Deep in the bush you can have just about all the comforts of home as the great uranium stake race enters its final two days.
▪ III. stake, v.1|steɪk|
[f. stake n.1 MDu. (mod.Du. dial., WFlem.), G. staken.]
1. a. trans. To mark (land) with stakes. N. Amer., to claim (land) by marking it with stakes; also absol.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1852 Þey..mesured lond, & dide hit stake þat ilkon dide his owen knowe. 1338― Chron. (1810) 309 [They] þat þorgh þe reame suld go, þe boundes forto stake. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. 41 [Meadows] ought to be well staked bytwene euery mannes dole. 1715Maryland Laws vi. (1723) 20 The Surveyor..shall have..Fees and Rewards of laying out and staking the Towns and Lots. 1716in Hist. Northfield, Mass. (1875) 139 Each man's several quantities being set out and staked. 1908M. A. Grainger Woodsmen of West 78 Now Billy Hewlitt was a ‘timber-cruiser’—a man who sought for forest timber, to stake it. 1916Yukon Territory (Canada Dept. Interior) 12 In a short time Bonanza was staked from end to end. 1945Clarke County Democrat (Grove Hill, Alabama) 24 May 1/6 The California Oil Company..has staked a location for the drilling of a test well. 1959M. Shand Summit & Beyond vii. 113 There was a report of a [gold] strike up White River. The men were talking of going to ‘stake’. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1/7 It is land that was staked before in the madness of 1954, when it became known that one of the world's greatest concentrations of uranium ores had been uncovered.
b. with advs. off, out; esp. to mark out (land, a building site, etc.) with stakes or pegs. Also fig.
1445in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 404 The enlarging of garit hostell, as hit is now staked out. 1624Capt. Smith Hist. Virginia vi. 232 We went to measure out the grounds: and so we cast lots where euery man should lie, which we staked out. 1710in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 49 Thomas..has survey'd and stak'd out the same. 1885Manch. Exam. 6 May 4/7 It will only remain to stake off the boundary through the intermediate districts.
c. Phr. to stake (out, † off) a claim, to make or register a claim (to land) by marking it with stakes; freq. fig. orig. U.S.
1851State Jrnl. (San Jose, Calif.) 15 Mar. 2/1 It was estimated that ten thousand people were on the ground staking off ‘claims’. 1876R. Bridges Growth of Love viii. Poet. Wks. (1912) 191 And against her shames Imagination stakes out heavenly claims. 1904J. London Daughter of Snows xiii. 140 You staked that claim before he was dry behind the ears. 1928H. Crane Let. 17 Apr. (1965) 324 Skepticism may stop there.., but I am not exactly satisfied by that... I still stake some claims on the pertinence of the intuitions. 1939Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime xiv. 199 Up till now, he had regarded Lord Emsworth as the most promising claim that any prospector for ore could hope to stake out. 1949Nat. Hist. Apr. 189/3 Sometimes when the bee hunter finds a nest that has not yet reached its peak of honey production, he will ‘stake his claim’ by marking the tree so that other hunters will know of his prior discovery.
2. a. To protect, support, or obstruct with stakes.
a1500Bale's Chron. in Flenley Six Town Chron. (1911) 130 And they hadde mervelously staked all þe feeld aboute þeym that no power of horsmen shuld com and override theym. 1530Palsgr. 732/1, I stake a hedge, je mets des espieux en vne haye. 1576in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 382 The water corse going to the howse of offyce..shalbe staked and stopped uppe. 1591Savile Tacitus, Hist. ii. xix. 63 Order was giuen that the camp should be entrenched and staked. 1602Ld. Mountjoy in Moryson's Itin. (1617) ii. 213 Long traverses..staked on both sides with pallisades watled.
b. with advs. To close up or in, to keep out, to shut off with a barrier of stakes.
1597Bp. Hall Sat. v. iii. 73, I shall praise thee all the while So be, thou stake not vp the common stile; So be thou hedge in nought, but what's thine owne. 1627Drayton Agincourt 19 The Duke of Glocester..Then caus'd his Ships the riuer vp to Stake, That none with Victuall should the Towne relieue. 1644Milton Divorce ii. xvi. 62 No marvell any thing if letters must be turn'd into palisadoes to stake out all requisite sense from entring to their due enlargement. 1861Dickens Gt. Expect. iii, On the bank of loose stones above the mud and stakes that staked the tide out. 1883H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. (ed. 2) 71 This world of natural men is staked off from the Spiritual World by barriers which have never yet been crossed from within.
c. To put stakes or a stake to (a plant).
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. Mar. (1679) 13 Stake and bind up your weakest Plants and Flowers against the Winds. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 90 They staked each Tree with four Poles, of about ten Foot long. 1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 255 Beans answer excellently, to stake the tares intended for seed. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. II. 200 All open standards should be staked as soon as planted.
3. To secure with or as with a stake.
a. To bind or tie up (an animal) to a stake; to bind (a person) to the stake for execution. Also with out.
1544in I. S. Leadam Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (1898) 79 His seruauntes dyd tedre and stayk thar horses vpon vj hawyns of Stokeleys. 1772T. Simpson Vermin-Killer 22 The only method that can be taken is..by staking a chicken by the leg. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. iv. 74 He ordered two soldiers to catch and stake me... This is a very severe punishment; four posts are driven into the ground, and the man is extended by his arms and legs horizontally, and there left to stretch for several hours. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xlii. 328 Our horses were unsaddled and staked on the open plain. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 403/1 We rode up as far toward the top of the ridge as we dared go and then staked out the ponies.
fig.1846Landor Imag. Conv., Southey & Landor Wks. 1853 II. 156/1 The poet is staked and faggoted by his surrounding brethren.
b. To fasten (a thing) down, on with a stake or with stakes.
1621Markham Fowling 114 These Nets being thus stakt downe with strong stakes. 1852R. F. Burton Falconry Valley Indus viii. 80 Strong fishing-nets, carefully staked down. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 44 In fixing the wheels and pullies upon a shaft, which is mostly done by driving wedges in the bush of the wheel or pulley, called staking them on.
†c. fig. To fasten securely as by a stake. Chiefly with down. Obs.
1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 16, I haue a soale of Lead So stakes me to the ground, I cannot moue. 1596Nashe Saffron Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 195 Nere tell me of this or that he sayes I spake or did, except he particularize and stake downe the verie words. 1691Norris Pract. Disc. 12 Men..that seem to be staked down and nailed fast to the Earth. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. ii. vii. (1852) 147, I know not whether the terrors of my dreadful voyage hither might not be ordered by the Divine Providence to stake me in this land. a1734North Life Ld. Keeper Guilford (1742) 14 His Mind was so airy and volatile, he could not have kept his Chamber, if he must needs be there staked down purely to the Drudgery of the Law.
4. a. To impale (a person) on a stake. Also with up. Also, to transfix and fasten down (a person) with a stake.
1577Holinshed Hist. Scot. 203/2 marg., The procurers of the murder were staked. a1593Marlowe & Nashe Dido iv. i, That with the sharpnes of my edged sting, I might haue stakte them both vnto the earth. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. i. 24 Others [Nero] staked through, rosined and waxened over their bodies, and so set them lighted up, as torches. 1657N. Billingsley Brachy-Martyrol. vii. 26 Seven sons she had, all stak'd, rack'd and at last Thrust through, were into a deep pit cast. 1680Otway Caius Marius i, Stake me, ye Gods, with thunder to the Earth. 1716B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1867) II. 129 His body being staked up, his head cut off, and a hogs head set in the room. 1786Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes to R.A.'s i. Wks. 1812 I. 128 Stak'd through the body like a paltry Thief.
b. pass. Of a horse, etc.: To be injured by impalement on a hedge or fence stake. Also refl.; hence trans., to cause a horse to stake himself.
1687Lond. Gaz. No. 2281/4 A bright bay Gelding.., a..Scar on the far side near the Flank, (where he had been stak'd). 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. i. 326 If any of these Dogs should happen to stake themselves, by brushing through Hedges. 1884Law Times LXXVIII. 100/1 The animals..attempted to jump a fence. The foal was staked and had to be killed.
†5. To drive in (a pile, etc.) Obs. rare—1.
1612Sir D. Carleton Let. 13 Apr. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 572 Hee hathe pulled up the piles, that y⊇ Ferraresi had staked in.
6. Leather-manuf. (See quot. 1853.)
1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2124/4 Stolen.., about 350 of the best Kids, some ready pared, and some in the Crust not staked. 1853Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 4) II. 63 The tawed skins, when dry, are ‘staked’, that is stretched, scraped, and smoothed by friction against the blunt edge of a semi-circular knife.
7. ‘To push with a stake or a pole, as a railroad car’ (Webster, 1911). ? U.S.
8. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
a. Usu. with adv. out. To maintain surveillance of (a place, etc.) in order to detect criminal activity or apprehend a suspect. Cf. stake-out.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §499/4 Stake out,..to surround a criminal retreat to spy upon or prevent escape. 1943R. Chandler Lady in Lake (1944) xxix. 157 They had the house staked. 1962L. Deighton Ipcress File 221 When..the French police staked out the courier routes, they found..50,000 dollars of forged signed travellers' cheques. 1967M. Procter Exercise Hoodwink xiii. 91 The house was ‘staked out.’.. A man called Whipper Slade emerged. ‘Coo, he's a real deadleg,’ said a detective who recognised him. 1974Black World June 28/1 Places that are so staked out with doormen and electronic gadgets that only god can enter the lobby. 1981Daily Tel. 6 July 2/2 Police were tipped off that trouble might occur with skinheads at nearby Greenford. They staked out a likely disco there.
b. to be staked out: to be set, or to set oneself, to maintain surveillance of a place.
1951M. Spillane Big Kill vi. 122 He's been a cop a long time. He's been staked out often enough to spot it when he's being watched himself. 1974J. A. Michener Centennial iv. 162 The Pawnee reacted as had been expected, with a countercharge of their own, and their leaders had covered only a short distance when they spotted Lame Beaver staked out, his rifle at the ready. 1979H. Kissinger White House Years xix. 756 David Bruce..came to the Embassy through the front door where the press was staked out.
▪ IV. † stake, v.2 Sc. Obs. rare—1.
[? Cf. (M)Du. staken to fix, place, prob. related to OFris. stak stiff, firm.]
trans. To place.
1513Douglas æneis xii. iii. 72 And glaidy eik haue I nocht stakyt the Intill a party of the hevin alssua? [L. scis ut te..cæli libens in parte locarim].
▪ V. stake, v.3|steɪk|
[Of uncertain origin.
The verb appears in our quots. a little earlier than the related stake n.2, and may be its source. On this view it may be a. MDu. staken to fix, place (see prec.). On the other hand, it is possible that the vb. may be f. the n.]
1. intr. To wager, hazard money, on the event of a game or contest. Now apprehended as absol. use of sense 3.
1530Palsgr. 732/1, I stake in a play, je boute. I wyll nat play, except every mans take. 1591[see 3]. 1631Hausted Rival Friends ii. ii, Vrs. What shall we play for? Mer. Two pinnes a game. Vrs. Stake then. 1708Yorkshire Racers 10 And Tandem stakes both for himself and friend. 1896Spectator 10 Oct. 480/1 As a rule a woman who plays cards for money feels like the cashier who is staking out of his master's till.
2. trans. to stake down: to deposit (a sum of money) as a wager or stake on the result of a game or contest. Also absol.
1565Cooper Thesaurus, s.v. Contendere, Pignore aliquo contendere, to gage or stake downe somwhat and pay for it. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 218 Gra. Weele play..for a thousand ducats. Ner. What and stake downe? 1622Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 198 So Wagers made by lookers on vpon other mens games are disallowed, which is the cause that Stipulations are made, putting the pawne or money downe, which is called, to stake downe. 1663Butler Hud. ii. i. 294 And if you doubt it to be true I'll stake myself down against you. 1821Scott Kenilw. ii, Our landlord here shall hold stakes, and I will stake down gold till I send the linen.
3. To put at hazard (a sum of money, an article of value, etc.) upon the cast of dice, the result of a competition or game, the event of a contingency, etc.; to wager.
1591Florio 2nd Fruites 25 T. Let vs keepe the lawes of the court. G. That is, stake money vnder the line... H. Here is my monie, now stake you. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 188 He..No lesser of her Honour confident..stakes this Ring. 1754Johnson Connoisseur No. 44 ⁋1 Other Ladies of the family are staking their half-pence at Put or All-Fours in the kitchen. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T., Forester, Bet, Sir Philip staked his handsome horse Sawney against Archibald's sorry pony. 1847Tennyson Princess Prol. 168 I'll stake my ruby ring upon it you did. 1885Spectator 25 July 977/2 The believer had the courage of his opinions and staked ten dollars on a magician whom he knew.
4. fig. To risk the loss of, to hazard.
1670Cotton Espernon i. iv. 147 Men of Quality, who had generously stak'd their persons for the good of their fellow Citizens. 1766Gibbon Decl. & F. v. (1782) I. 148 They had staked their lives against the chance of empire. 1868Stanley Westm. Abbey iv. 248 On it the sculptor Gibbs staked his immortality. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §4 (1882) 378 Mary had staked all on her union with Darnley.
5. colloq. (orig. U.S.) To furnish with money or supplies, etc.; to grub-stake. Also with compl. introduced by with or to indicating the commodity, etc., supplied.
1853‘P. Paxton’ Stray Yankee in Texas 219 The jofired mean whelp wouldn't stake me. 1894‘Mark Twain’ Pudd'n-head Wilson iv. 58 Tom staked him with marbles to play ‘keeps’ with. 1917G. B. McCutcheon Green Fancy 25 He staked her to a ticket to New York. 1934R. Graves I, Claudius xxiii. 333 He gave me a purse of money and muttered in my ear: ‘Tell nobody that I'm staking you, but put this on Scarlet.’ 1942Z. N. Hurston in Amer. Mercury LV. 88 If Jelly really had had some money, he might have staked him..to a hot. Good Southern cornbread with a piano on a platter. 1969Coast to Coast 1967–68 138 They would stake him, buy his grub, supply him with horses and packs, pay him a hundred pounds for her scalp. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die ii. 38 He felt their happiness for him, and to repay it he said, ‘Now let me stake you guys, you too, Diane. Twenty grand apiece.’
▪ VI. † stake, v.4 Sc. Obs.
Also staik.
[Of obscure origin; cf. stock v., which has a similar sense, though etymological connexion is inadmissible.]
trans. To supply the needs of; to stock or furnish sufficiently with something.
1547Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 80 And ordains the said Abbot and his convent religious men be honestlie stakit and furnist. 1565–6Ibid. 426 That thai, on na wayis, sell ony part..of the samyn wynis..unto the tyme thair Hienessis, the prelattis..and baronis be first stakit of thair necessaris thairof. 1573Satir. Poems Reform. xlii. 162 Quhilk number [of preachers].. is sa small The Kirkis can not be stakit all. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 319 Collectouris maid in everie towne quhair salt vas maid to take vp sa mikill as to staik the cuntrie. 1583Leg. Bp. St. Androis 170 in Satir. Poems Reform., Perceaving weill St Androis vaikit and syne how sone the knave was staikit. 1641D. Ferguson Sc. Prov. (1785) 16 He's well staikit there-ben, that will neither borrow nor len.
b. Of a thing: To supply the wants of, to be sufficient for, to satisfy.
1550Rec. Elgin (New Spalding Club 1903) I. 104 It salbe lesum to skynneris to pull samone voll skynnis as will staik tham to mak vark of within thair bothis. 1563Sc. Acts Mary (1814) II. 539/1 That thay that ar appointit..haue the principall mans.., or samekill thairof as salbe fundin sufficient for staiking of thame. a1568A. Scott Poems xi. 32 Ȝe suld considdir or ȝe taik thame [i.e. lovers] That littill scheruice will not staik thame. 1589R. Bruce Serm. Sacrament ii. (1590) G 2, Be the naked and simple preaching of the worde ȝee get faith; sa the simple word may staike ȝou.
c. intr. To suffice.
1572Satir. Poems Reform. xxx. 213 This Tragedie may staik, to tell the Lordis,..The thrid of marche was worthy Methwen slane. 1583Leg. Bp. St. Androis 642 in Sat. Poems Reform., To London Lowrie tuke the geat, With traine myt staik for his esteat. 1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 31 Abusers, staikes it not to lurk in lust, Without [etc.].
Hence ˈstaking vbl. n., (one's) fill.
1577–95Descr. Isles Scot. in W. F. Skene Celtic Scot. (1880) III. App. 431 [They] saltis na fisches, but eittis thair staiking and castis the rest on the land.
▪ VII. stake
obs. form of steak.
▪ VIII. stake
obs. pa. tense of steek, stick vbs. |