Placed a bet or risk on something, or secured something with stakes driven into the ground.
From Old English 'staca' meaning a stick or stake. The gambling sense developed in the 1500s when people would literally place wooden stakes as bets in games.
The word 'stake' originally meant a wooden post, but when medieval gamblers started risking money in games, they'd place their stakes (coins or valuables) on the table—so now we talk about having 'a stake in' something when we have something to lose.
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