Bet

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈbɛt/

Definitions

1. A wager involves risking resources on the outcome of an event, signifying an agreement where potential gain or loss is at stake, reflecting confidence in a predicted result
2. To risk a sum of money on the chance that a particular event will happen ; an agreement to risk money based on the predicted result of an event ; a confident declaration that something is certain to occur
3. To risk something of value in hopes of winning more based on an uncertain event ; a contract involving staking money on the outcome of an uncertain future event ; to claim or insist that a particular result is guaranteed

Etymology: The noun "bet" (money staked on an outcome) is thought to come from 16th-century criminal slang, and its origin is genuinely unsettled. One candidate is "bett," an older English word meaning "better," which would make a bet a wager that one party is right against the other. Another candidate is "abet," which in Middle English meant to urge someone on, from Old French "abeter," to hound on or to bait, related to the Old English "bǣtan," meaning to bait or to set dogs against an animal. Both routes point toward the idea of pushing a contest forward, and neither can be proven from the surviving evidence. The verb and noun share their root, and the same uncertainty covers the whole word. Before "bet" settled into respectable gambling talk, it belonged to the cant of thieves and rogues who wagered on their own schemes.

Synonyms: wager, stake, gamble, risk, venture

Antonyms: withdraw, refrain, avoid, abstain, disregard