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sweepstakes

American  
[sweep-steyks] / ˈswipˌsteɪks /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

  1. a race or other contest for which the prize consists of the stakes contributed by the various competitors.

  2. the prize itself.

  3. a lottery in which winning tickets are selected at random, each winning-ticket number then being matched to one of the horses nominated for or entered in a specific race, and the amounts paid the winners being determined by the finishing order of the horses that run.

  4. lottery.

  5. any gambling transaction in which each of a number of persons contributes a stake, and the stakes are awarded to one or several winners.

  6. a risky venture that promises large rewards.

    the high-tech sweepstakes.

Etymology

Origin of sweepstakes

1485–95; earlier swepestake originally, a person who won all the stakes in a game; sweep 1, stake 2, -s 3

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.