Meaning

• A piece of wood or other material, usually long and slender, pointed at one end so as to be easily driven into the ground as a marker or a support or stay.

  "We have surveyor's stakes at all four corners of this field, to mark exactly its borders."

• A piece of wood driven in the ground, placed in the middle of the court, that is used as the finishing point after scoring 12 hoops in croquet.

• A stick inserted upright in a lop, eye, or mortise, at the side or end of a cart, flat car, flatbed trailer, or the like, to prevent goods from falling off.

• (with definite article) The piece of timber to which a person condemned to death was affixed to be burned.

  "Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake."

• A share or interest in a business or a given situation.

  "The owners let the managers eventually earn a stake in the business."

• That which is laid down as a wager; that which is staked or hazarded; a pledge.

• A small anvil usually furnished with a tang to enter a hole in a bench top, as used by tinsmiths, blacksmiths, etc., for light work, punching hole in or cutting a work piece, or for specific forming techniques etc.

• A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.

Meaning

• To fasten, support, defend, or delineate with stakes.

  "to stake vines or plants"

• To pierce or wound with a stake.

• To put at risk upon success in competition, or upon a future contingency.

• To provide another with money in order to engage in an activity as betting or a business venture.

  "His family staked him $10,000 to get his business started."