grubstake •
\GRUB-stayk\ • verb : to provide with material assistance (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.
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