sweepstake, sweepstakes
(ˈswiːpsteɪk), (-steɪks)
Also 5–6 swepe-, 6 sweepestake, 6 swepstacke.
[f. sweep v. 8 (sweep- 2) + stake n.2 Cf. swoopstake.]
† 1. One who ‘sweeps’, or takes the whole of, the stakes in a game, etc.; usually fig. one who takes or appropriates everything; from the 15th to the 17th cent. commonly used as a ship's name.
| α 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 159 The Kinges Bark called the Swepestake. 1520 in Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII, III. ii. 1541 To John Hopton, wages of the Swepestake row⁓barge, and for rigging other ships, 100 l. 1527 Will of J. Piper (Somerset Ho.), My shipp called the Mary Swepestake. 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus b iv, Pantolabus signifieth omnia capiens, one that is a swepestake and all is fysshe that commeth to the nette with hym. 1545 in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. vii. 8 The second rancke of the vaunt⁓ward:—The greate gallye. The Swepstacke. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 111 He that will exploit wonderments, and karrie all before him, like a sweepe-stake. 1593 in J. Morris Troubles Cath. Forefathers (1877) 163 The gleaners, as sweepstakes, who raked up without scruple all that whereof the other made some conscience. 1595 Roxb. Ball. (1889) VI. 409 The George-Aloe and the Sweep-stake too. 1632 Brome Novella ii. ii, Shee will runne on the faster... She will prove the only Sweep-stake In all the city. 1687 Miege Gt. Fr. Dict., Sweep-stake, He that gets all the Stakes, Celui (ou Celle) qui tire l'Enjeu. |
| β c 1650 (title of ballad) The Seaman's only Delight: Shewing the brave Fight between the George-Aloe, the Sweepstakes and certain French Men at Sea. 1669 Narborough Jrnl. 15 May in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. (1711) 1, I received..my Commission to Command his Majesty's Ship the Sweepstakes. 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 18 Thy Sweep-stakes still shall bare the Bell, No Fire-ship yet aboard it fell. |
† 2. The act of sweeping everything away; a clean sweep; total removal or clearance. Only in form
sweepstake: usually in
phr. to make sweepstake,
to play (at) sweepstake.
Obs.| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 323 Verres wheresoeuer he came plaied swepestake [orig. quod omnia uerreret]. c 1555 [Coverdale] Exhort. carienge of Chrystes crosse xii. 133 If the pope and his prelates were charitable, they woulde, I trowe, make swepe stake at once wyth purgatorye. 1557 R. Edgeworth Serm. 314 And this boke made swepestake of the blessed sacrament, declaring there to be nothing els but bare bread and wine. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. iii. 403 b, Leo the 10...devising..to make sweepe⁓stake for money [orig. de emungenda pecunia]. 1589 Nashe Martins Months Mind To Rdr., For the moste parte..they maie in the end with a tripsie Tray, carrie all awaie smoothe; and come once to the sweepestake. 1613 J. Taylor (Water P.) Heav. Blessing Wks. 1630 iii. 123/2 Death..whose auaritious greedy mood, Doth play at sweepe-stake with all liuing things. 1648 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iv. (1659) II. 1227 The Scots play Sweep-stake, take nothing but all Moveables. a 1650 Abp. Williams in Hacket Life ii. (1693) 172, I cannot conceive from what ground this general Sweepstake of Archbishops, Bishops, Parsons, Vicars,..should proceed. 1653 Vind. Christmas Title-p., The lamentable game called Sweepstake, acted by Gen. Plunder and Maj. Gen. Tax. |
3. orig. A prize won in a race or contest in which the whole of the stakes contributed by the competitors are taken by the winner or by a certain limited number of them; hence (now usually), the race or contest itself. (
Cf. stake n.2 3.)
| 1773 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 234 The great Sweep Stakes of the asses were half-a-guinea; the second prize a crown, and the third half-a-crown. 1785 W. Pick (title) Authentic Historical Racing Calendar of all the Plates, Sweep-stakes, Matches, &c., run for at York, 1709–1785. 1835 H. Harewood Dict. Sports s.v. Woodpecker, At Newmarket Spring Meeting, 1777, Woodpecker won a sweepstakes of 1500 gs. 1854 Poultry Chron. I. 616/1 A Sweepstake for Dahlias, of 2s. 6d. each (open to the County). |
b. A betting or gambling transaction in which each person contributes a stake, and the whole of the stakes are taken by one or divided among several under certain conditions.
| 1862 Sala Seven Sins III. v. 121 A lucky draw in a sweep⁓stakes on one of the minor races. 1901 Hall & Osborne Sunshine & Surf ii. 18 We had nothing so modern or up to date as sweepstakes on the day's run [of the ship]. |
4. attrib.| 1599 Minsheu Sp. Dict., Pleas. Dial. (1623) 25 It is not, but that you will not haue any game of vertue but sweepe stake play. 1779 Sylph I. 238 My former winnings are in the sweep-stake-pool at the commerce-table. 1896 Peterson Mag. Jan. 89/2 Four miles the old mule took at sweepstake pace. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 29 May 10/1 The amount spent on sweepstake tickets during the autumn race meeting totalled up to the respectable sum of {pstlg}107,164. |
Hence
ˈsweepˌstaking, gambling in the way of sweepstakes.
| 1882 S. G. Thomas in Burnie Mem. & Lett. xv. (1891) 179 There is a good [deal] of card-playing on board, and some ‘sweepstaking’. |