stake-outn.
colloquial (originally U.S.).
An act or period of surveillance of a place by police or investigative agents. Also transferred and attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > law enforcement > investigation of crime > investigate or discover as a detective [verb (transitive)] > keep watch on
tec1900
stake-out1942
the world > action or operation > safety > protection or defence > vigilance > keeping watch > [noun] > surveillance > specific type of
suicide watch1929
stake-out1942
mass surveillance1955
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §499/2 Stake-out, a surrounding of a criminal retreat to spy upon or prevent the escape of criminals.
1943 R. Chandler Lady in Lake (1944) xl. 208 Somebody stood behind that green curtain..as silently as only a cop on a stake-out knows how to stand.
1955 Sun (Baltimore) (B ed.) 11 Jan. 26/8 Bergen was arrested..by..rookie policemen who were part of an extensive stakeout in the area which had been set up to trap the person or persons responsible for the large number of burglaries.
1960 Washington Post 15 Jan. a12 The success of the police in these instances has been largely due to the ‘stake-out’ system.
1966 J. Gardner Amber Nine viii. 95 He had enjoyed that time as stake-out man at London Central: lurking, watching (and watching for) people.
1972 New Yorker 16 Jan. 27/1 A group of agents..who were conducting a stakeout of a house in suburban Wilmette.
1979 Daily Tel. 19 Sept. 36/5 Father Frederick Linale..said police asked him last week if they could use the mission on a ‘stake out’.
1983 Times 29 Jan. 6/8 President Reagan's impromptu visit to a Boston Irish pub for a quick beer broke up a stake-out by armed FBI agents.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
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n.1942