stakeout

American  

[steyk-out] / ˈsteɪkˌaʊt /

noun

1. the surveillance of a location by the police, as in anticipation of a crime or the arrival of a wanted person.

2. the place from which such surveillance is carried out.

3. something that is bounded or separated by or as if by stakes, especially property, territory, or the like that one identifies or claims as one's own.

---

stakeout British  

/ ˈsteɪkaʊt /

noun

1. a police surveillance of an area, house, or criminal suspect

2. an area or house kept under such surveillance

---

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to keep under surveillance

Etymology

Origin of stakeout

First recorded in 1940–45; noun use of verb phrase stake out

Explanation

When police officers watch a suspect's house, keeping an eye on who's coming and going, they call it a stakeout. Most stakeouts are done stealthily, with the officers trying to avoid being seen. Detectives on a stakeout often spend long hours sitting in an unmarked police car, watching a house or building. The stakeout might, for example, be used to prove that a suspect who claims to need a wheelchair can actually to walk, or that two people who say they've never met each other are actually close friends. The word comes from the stake that a surveyor uses to mark off a piece of land, and it's been around since the 1940's.

Example Sentences

She was relaying the information that had been picked up during her stakeout, which wasn’t much.

From Slate • Oct. 27, 2025

Following a meeting with the president, Republican Senators John Thune, John Barrasso and Mike Crapo spoke at the stakeout area.

From Salon • Jun. 5, 2025

French media published a photo from the police stakeout, which shows several of the men having coffee and chatting at a Parisian café that winter, just before their arrest.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2025

Garland is strongest with impressions: chirping birds over bloody lawns, the laconic humor of exhausted soldiers on a stakeout, a quick shot of Lee deleting some of her own photos, a private mode of self-care.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2024

He was just settling in for his stakeout when a young woman burst through the door, wearing jeans and a hijab.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers