grubstake

****************************************************************
Add fireworks to your vocabulary by trying out a free trial
subscription to Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged_sub.pl?refr=U_wod 
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for July 8 is:

grubstake   \GRUB-stayk\   verb
     : to provide with material assistance (as a loan) for launching an enterprise or for a person in difficult circumstances 

Example sentence:
     "Hoping to turn the situation around in California, the state now grubstakes entrepreneurs to try their hand at salvaging urban woods." (John Balzar, _Los Angeles Times_, March 8, 2004) 

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. 
 




You Are Subscribed As: [email protected]
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2006 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 070806 [email protected] mf*

---
You are currently subscribed to mw-text as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]