grubstake
Americannoun
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provisions, gear, etc., furnished to a prospector on condition of participating in the profits of any discoveries.
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money or other assistance furnished at a time of need or of starting an enterprise.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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informal to furnish with such supplies
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to supply (a person) with a stake in a gambling game
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of grubstake
Vocabulary lists containing grubstake
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But Hagan also lavishes praise upon Wenner for building a media empire from a tiny grubstake.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2017
With a $50 grubstake from her father, Ms. Bündchen set off alone on a 28-hour bus ride to São Paulo and an improbable lifelong journey.
From New York Times ● May 14, 2016
At the firm's start in 1985, Schwarzman and co-founder Peter G. Peterson shared a secretary and oversaw a grubstake of just $400,000.
From BusinessWeek ● May 7, 2009
It mattered nothing that a man could scratch and sift his way through grubstake after grubstake without success.
From Time Magazine Archive
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He told Westerberg he planned on staying until April 15, just long enough to put together a grubstake.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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Luckier than all the prospectors were the traders who grubstaked them.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The empire he rules was founded in 1867 when Cleveland's Dan Rhodes grubstaked early explorers of the Mesabi.
From Time Magazine Archive
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The Reconstruction Finance Corp., which has grubstaked Kaiser-Frazer Corp. to some $50 million, last week decided to ride along on the mule as well.
From Time Magazine Archive
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In 1941 Scotty broke down and confessed that the gold mine was a myth; he had been grubstaked "for laughs" by the late multimillionaire.
From Time Magazine Archive
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He 'lowed he'd grubstaked Casey, which was a plumb lie.
From Rimrock Trail by Dunn, J. Allan, (Joseph Allan)
The first stage in the development of a mine is grubstaking the prospector.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Potent in State politics, he became popular by his generosity in grubstaking ranchers and prospectors.
From Time Magazine Archive
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It's named after Walter Scott, a flamboyant prospector and veteran of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, who conned a millionaire Chicago insurance executive named Albert Johnson into grubstaking a worthless mine.
From Time Magazine Archive
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He used to say: 'When you are grubstaking, you take chances.
From Time Magazine Archive
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I want you to tell me who it was grubstaked you that winter you needed grubstaking mighty bad.
From Bred of the Desert A Horse and a Romance by Horton, Marcus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.