Word of the Day: grubstake

vendredi 12 septembre 2014

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 13, 2014 is:

grubstake • \GRUB-stayk\ • verb

: to provide with material $#@!istance (as a loan) for launching an enterprise or for a person in difficult circumstances



Examples:

For the production of his short film, Zachary was grubstaked by online donations from friends and supporters.



"Almost simultaneously, the Auerbachs opened a series of stores. They sold merchandise on commission throughout the Western states…. They grubstaked miners, held mining interests, purchased a sawmill and a 30-pack mule train." — Eileen Hallet Stone, The Salt Lake Tribune, November 16, 2013



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.









Word of the Day: grubstake

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