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 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.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., V. v. Ac þære ilcan niht þe mon on dæʓ hæfde þa burʓ mid stacum ʓemearcod, swa [etc.].
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 395. & sleah ænne stacan on middan þam vmbhaʓan & leʓe þone stan on uppan þam stacan.
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 338. On a stake of pere-tre.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 83. A tente of cloth with corde and stake He sette up ferst.
c. 1420. Avow. Arth., xvii. The hed of that hardy, He sette on a stake.
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 1120. Syxty stedus he wan, And brouȝth to stak.
c. 1440. [see STAKING vbl. sb. b].
1523. Act 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.
1534. in J. Croft, Excerpta Ant. (1797), 17. For a Steyk of vj Nyks for Stapys to a Grese, ij d.
1667. Primatt, City & C. Build., 93. The Ground is not firm to build on, but doth require stakes to be droven.
a. 1674. Clarendon, 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.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 117. I set my Dog to guard it in the Night, tying him up to a Stake at the Gate.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 437. The farmer’s hedge, Plash’d neatly, and secur’d with driven stakes Deep in the loamy bank.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 255. We find it completely fenced across with stout stakes.
fig. 1567. Gude & Godlie Ball., 186. O cankerit carionnis, and o ye rottin stakis.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., Pref. ii. § 3. As the truth is, their ministers forrein estimation hitherto hath beene the best stake in their hedge.
1630. Prynne, Anti-Armin., 123. Thus to plucke vp all the stakes, the bounds of Gods eternal Decrees.
Proverbial uses. a. 1300. Cursor M., 7526. Bot þar he stod als still os stake.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 8. I fro hire go Ne mai, bot as it were a stake, I stonde.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 29. For any great courtesie he doth make, It seemth the gentill man hath eaten a stake.
a. 1637. B. 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.
c. 1205. Lay., 16684. Samuel nom Agag þene king … & lette hine swiðe sterke to ane stake binde.
c. 1386. Chaucer, 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.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), ix. 35. Scho was … bun by a stake and fagotes of thornes … laide aboute hir.
1563–83. Foxe, 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.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., V. iii. 44. Curse Miscreant, when thou comst to the stake.
1600. Aberdeen 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.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., II. xix. 125. When Religion is at the stake, there must be no lookers on.
1722. De Foe, Moll Flanders (1840), 277. To be burnt to death at a stake.
1829. Hood, Eugene Aram, 204. And my red right hand grows raging hot, Like Cranmer’s at the stake.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, I. v. ‘I know I would go to the stake for you,’ said Harry.
1872. Morley, 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.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. ix. (1867), 17. With as good will as a beare goth to the stake.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., IV. i. 48. Octa. Let vs do so: for we are at the stake, And bayed about with many Enemies.
1616. W. 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).
1297. R. Glouc., Chron. (Rolls), 1171. Stakes of ire monion he piȝte in temese grounde Aboue ssarpe & kene inou bineþ grete & rounde.
c. 1450. Brut, 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.
1634. Milton, Comus, 491. Com not too neer, you fall on iron stakes else.
1876. Voyle & 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 pull up, move stakes: to move one’s habitation. Similarly to drive stakes, to stick one’s stakes: to pitch one’s camp or tent, to settle.
1830. Massachusetts Spy, 15 Dec. (Thornton, Amer. Gloss.). Our departed emigrants pulled up stakes, and returned post haste to the good old town of Springfield.
1869. Bret 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.
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 184. Where he settles, there he stakes or sticks his stakes.
1906. Outing (U.S.), Feb., 605/2. After drifting about several years I finally drove stakes on the Spokane River.
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 (RICE1 2) Sc. and north.: a fence, hurdle or partition made with these materials; also attrib.
1457. Sc. Acts Jas. II., § 30 (1814), II. 51/2. Þt na man mak gardes nor heggis of dry staikes na Rys or stykis.
1471–2. Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 644. Pro posicione del stakez et ryss.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 260. To big the wal betwix Abircorne and Dunbritane, with staik and rise.
1584. Hudson, Du Bartas’ Judith, IV. On stake and ryce hee knits the crooked vines, And snoddes their bowes.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 278. Hurdles, (vulgarly called stake and rice) may be made round the links.
1821. [see STAB sb.2 1].
1858. R. 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.
1805. R. 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.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, iv. 25. Instead of taking the stake-and-bound at the weakest place, he rode at the strongest.
1902. Cornish, Naturalist on Thames, 161. This is the universal ‘stake and bond’ hedge of the shires, impenetrable to cattle.
c. Stake and rider (see RIDER 12 d), a fence made of stakes with a top bar; also attrib.; hence stake-and-ridered adj. U.S. and Colonial.
1829. Massachusetts Spy, 11 Feb. (Thornton, Amer. Gloss.). [He met] a man in a lane with a stake-and-rider fence on each side.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 443. Stake and rider, a species of fence higher and stronger than a ‘worm fence.’
1895. John Fox, Jr., in Century Mag., Aug., 625/2. The stake-and-ridered fences everywhere, and the barbed wire in the Blue Grass, would make following impossible.
† 3. A rung (of a ladder). Obs. rare.
c. 1440. Jacob’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.
1640–1. Kirkcudbright 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).
1660. in Archæologia, XI. 101. Armorers Tooles … Tramping Stakes. Round stake. Welting stakes.
1677. Moxon, 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.
1843. Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 386. The smaller anvils, which are called stakes,… are of progressively smaller sizes.
1884. F. 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.)
1853. Ure, 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.’
1897. C. 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 that fit into sockets or staples on a trolley, wagon or boat to prevent the load from slipping off.
1875–84. Knight, Dict. Mech.
d. Basket-making. Each of the longest foundation-rods of a basket or the like. (Webster, 1911.)
6. In the Mormon Church: A territorial division; the see or jurisdiction of a Mormon bishop. [? Suggested by Isa. liv. 2, 3.]
[1833. J. 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. Ibid. (1839). I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called Stakes for the curtains, or the strength of Zion.]
1882–3. Schaff’s Encycl. Relig. Knowl., II. 1578. Every city, or ‘stake,’ including a chief town and surrounding towns.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 828. The [Mormon] church is made up of 23 stakes, each having a president.
7. attrib. and Comb., as stake-beetle (BEETLE sb.1 1), -hedge, -pole, -rest; stake-boat, a boat moored or otherwise fixed to serve as a starting-point or mark for racing boats; 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 willow, a kind of willow used for the making of stakes.
1638–40. Min. Archdeaconry of Essex (MS.), 140 b. He tooke two stakes and knockt them in with a *stake beetle.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 4 April, 8. The Cambridge crew … paddled away … to their *stake-boat on the Middlesex side of the river.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 269. Botaurus. Bittern…. *Stake-driver.
1889. H. 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.’
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1148/1. [He] bad his bedfellow and sworne *stakefellow … maister Saunders farewell.
1825. J. 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.
1828–32. Webster, *Stake-head, in rope-making, a stake with wooden pins in the upper side to keep the strands apart.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., *Stake-hedge, one made of thorns or wood,… wattled or ethered from three to four feet high.
1832. Babbage, 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.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stake-iron Bender, a machine for bending stake-irons for the bolsters of wagons.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 300/1. *Stake Nails, or Sadlers Tacks.
1836. Yarrell, 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.
1883. Moloney, W. Afr. Fisheries (Fish. Exhib. Publ.), 24. These baskets are secured to *stake-poles or sticks, laid out in parallel lines.
1909. Century Dict., Suppl., *Stake-presidency.
1891. Century Dict., *Stake-rest, on a railway platform-car, a device for supporting a stake when turned down horizontally.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 761. But if *stake stoobbers will not let stakis stand, Blame not the stake.
1741. in C. Whibley, In Cap & Gown (1898), 37. Ev’n *stake-stuck Clarians strove to stoop.
1572. Googe, 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].
