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grubstake was our Word of the Day on 09/13/2014. Hear the podcast!
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First Known Use of grubstake
1863
Definition of grubstake
grubstaker
nounRecent Examples of grubstake from the Web
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Out of cash, Steen reluctantly abandoned grubstaking to work as a carpenter in Tucson, Arizona, for a year, but the uranium called to him.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grubstake.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Grubstake is a linguistic nugget that was dug up during the famous California Gold Rush, which began in 1848. Sometime between the first stampede and the early 1860s, when the gold-seekers headed off to Montana, prospectors combined grub ("food") and stake, meaning "an interest or share in an undertaking." At first grubstake was a noun, referring to any kind of loan or provisions that could be finagled to make an undertaking possible (with the agreement that the "grubstaker" would get a cut of any profits). By 1879, grubstake was also showing up as a verb meaning "to give someone a grubstake," and, since at least 1937, it has been applied to other situations in which a generous benefactor comes through with the funds.
First Known Use of grubstake
1879
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