noun

• (croquet) 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.
• (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."
• (Mormonism) A territorial division comprising all the Mormons (typically several thousand) in a geographical area.
  "Every city, or stake, including a chief town and surrounding towns, has its president, with two counselors; and this president has a high council of chosen men."

verb

• (transitive) To fasten, support, defend, or delineate with stakes.
  "to stake vines or plants"
• (transitive) To pierce or wound with a stake.
  "You see, I'd made a bargain with him to buy the horse for a hundred and twenty—a swinging price, but I always liked the horse. And what does he do but go and stake him—fly at a hedge with stakes in it, atop of a bank with a ditch before it."
• (transitive) To put at risk upon success in competition, or upon a future contingency.
  "I'll ſtake my Lamb that near the Fountain plays, / And from the Brink his dancing Shade ſurveys."
• (transitive) To provide (another) with money in order to engage in an activity as betting or a business venture.
  "John went broke, so to keep him playing, Jill had to stake him."