stake (redirected from stakes out)

go to the stake (mainly British)

if you say you would go to the stake for a belief or principle, you mean you would risk anything in order to defend it. She believed passionately that the government were wrong on this issue and was prepared to go to the stake for her views.

pull up stakes (American & Australian)

to leave the place where you have been living. He pulled up stakes in Indiana and moved, permanently.

See also: pull

stake a/your claim

to make it clear that you want something, and that you think you deserve to get it. Descendants of the original settlers are going to court to stake their claim to the land. (often + to) In order to stake a claim for world prominence in astronomy, the university is building a huge new optical telescope.

See also: claim

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at stake

in danger of being lost. About 3000 jobs are at stake if the company moves to another state.

pull up stakes

to leave the place where you have been living. They lived in Los Angeles for several years before pulling up stakes for Nova Scotia.

See also: pull

raise the stakes

to increase in importance or danger. Employees who lost all their pensions have raised the stakes for the company by going to court and filing a lawsuit.

up the ante

See also: raise

stake a claim (to something)

1. to announce that something belongs to you. Every kind of group you can think of has staked a claim to space on the Internet.

Usage notes: also used in the form stake your claim: He staked his claim as a liberal.

2. to show that you believe something is yours. In recent years, several big stores have staked a claim to the wealthy shoppers in this area. Stevens has staked a claim to a new brand of techno music with a series of exciting concerts.

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of stake a claim (= to mark with posts a piece of land belonging to the government that you claim for yourself)

See also: claim

stake someone out

watch someone, often secretly. A television news crew staked her out from a next-door neighbor's yard. For a week, police staked out the suspect.

stake out something

1. to claim something belongs to you. To avoid a long wait to eat lunch, one of you stakes out a table and the other gets the food. Lars staked out a cot in a third-floor bedroom and tried to make it seem like his own space.

2. to secretly watch a place. Private detectives staked out their house, went through their garbage, and interviewed their neighbors.