- stake (n)
- "pointed stick or post," O.E. staca, from P.Gmc. *stakon (cf. O.N. stiaki, Du. staak, Ger. stake), from PIE base *steg- "pole, stick." The Gmc. word has been borrowed in Sp. (estaca), O.Fr. (estaque), and It. stacca) and was borrowed back as attach. Meaning "post upon which persons were bound for death by burning" is recorded from c.1200. Stake-body as a type of truck is attested from 1907.
- stake (v.)
- early 14c., "to mark (land) with stakes," from stake (n.). Hence, to stake a claim (1857). Meaning "to risk, wager" is attested from 1520s, probably from notion of "post on which a gambling wager was placed," though Weekley suggests "there is a tinge of the burning or baiting metaphor" in this usage. Noun meaning "that which is placed at hazard" is recorded from 1530s. Plural stakes, as in horse racing, first recorded 1690s (cf. sweepstakes). To have a stake in is recorded from 1784. Meaning "to maintain surveilance" (usually stake out) is first recorded 1942, Amer.Eng. colloquial, probably form earlier sense of "mark off territory."