grubstake

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 13, 2014 is: 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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.