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. 1. A vertical post to which an offender is bound for execution by burning.
   2. Execution by burning. Used with the: condemned to the stake.
3. A vertical post secured in a socket at the edge of a platform, as on a truck bed, to help retain the load.
4. Mormon Church. A territorial division consisting of a group of wards under the jurisdiction of a president.
5. Sports & Games.
   1. Money or property risked in a wager or gambling game. Often used in the plural. See synonyms at bet.
   2. The prize awarded the winner of a contest or race.
   3. A race offering a prize to the winner, especially a horserace in which the prize consists of money contributed equally by the horse owners.
6. 1. A share or an interest in an enterprise, especially a financial share.
   2. Personal interest or involvement: a stake in her children's future.
7. A grubstake.

1. 1. To mark the location or limits of with or as if with stakes: stake out a claim.
   2. To claim as one's own: staked out a place for herself in industry.
2. To fasten, secure, or support with a stake or stakes.
3. To tether or tie to a stake.
4. To gamble or risk; hazard.
5. To provide working capital for; finance.

stake out

1. To assign (a police officer, for example) to an area to conduct surveillance.
2. To keep under surveillance.

at stake

1. At risk; in question.

[Middle English, from Old English staca.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.