0

stake (v.2)    "to risk, wager," 1520s, perhaps from notion of "post on which a gambling wager was placed" (see stake (n.2)), though Weekley suggests "there is a tinge of the burning or baiting metaphor" in this usage. Meaning "to maintain surveillance" (usually stake out) is first recorded 1942, American English colloquial, probably form earlier sense of "mark off territory." ...

Alas, I struggle even to guess this metaphor. So what does burning or baiting mean here?

Update: I know that 'stake' can mean a "post upon which persons were bound for death by burning", but Etymonline cites this meaning for its entry on the noun. So how did burning or baiting affect the meaning of the verb above?

Improve this question
5
  • Sadly, Mr. Weekley died in 1954, else you could have asked him what he meant. Have you tried to locate the Weekley work obliquely alluded to in the definition you cited?
    – Brian Hitchcock
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 9:47
  • 1
    What is at stake, what is at risk, what will you wager (bet) or entice (bait) something on? Your health, your reputation, your money/finances or your life? He staked his reputation on a much-publicised plan that has demonstrably failed If you understand the meaning of "to stake" then you can see how burning and baiting/enticing is related. If you don't understand the meaning that explains your confusion.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 10:18
  • "Baiting" is the practice of, say, tying a lamb to a stake to attract a wolf.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 11:57
  • Or the public "sport" of bear-baiting.
    – TimR
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 12:02
  • elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-bear-bull-baiting.htm
    – TimR
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 12:12

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

LMGIFY

The "burning" metaphor refers to burning at the stake, a method of executing criminals.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_burning

For a specific example: see, e.g., Joan of Arc.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks. I did know about this heroine. Does my updated OP help?
    – user50720
    Commented May 25, 2015 at 5:19
0

I would assume the "baiting" metaphor would be a reference to the use of stakes in animal trapping, both as anchors for ground traps and in the famous "pit with stakes at the bottom". It also seems plausible that it may seem more bait-related because bait itself is able to be staked to the locality for an animal, as one would stake suet to a tree for woodpeckers.

I also assume the burning metaphor is, as suggested, a reference to burning people (or just other flammable material such as a bonfire) at a stake. Weekley may have been suggesting that with those (perhaps) more common usages of the word, using it for wagering carries with it a tinge of the other meanings. After all, one might consider a wager to be nothing but "burning your money", or from the other perspective, "baiting an unwary sucker" into making a poor bet.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.