WAGER

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does wager mean? 

• WAGER (noun)
  The noun WAGER has 2 senses:

1. the act of gambling

2. the money risked on a gamble

  Familiarity information: WAGER used as a noun is rare.

• WAGER (verb)
  The verb WAGER has 2 senses:

1. stake on the outcome of an issue

2. maintain with or as if with a bet

  Familiarity information: WAGER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WAGER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of gambling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

bet; wager

Context example:

he did it on a bet

Hypernyms ("wager" is a kind of...):

gambling; gaming; play (the act of playing for stakes in the hope of winning (including the payment of a price for a chance to win a prize))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wager"):

daily double (a single bet on two horse races in the same day)

exacta; perfecta (a bet that you can pick the first and second finishers in the right order)

parimutuel (betting where winners share the total amount wagered)

parlay (a series of wagers in which the winnings from one wager are used as a stake for the subsequent wagers)

place bet (a bet that a horse will finish a race no worse than second)

superfecta (a bet that you can pick the first four finishers in a race in the right order)

Derivation:

wager (maintain with or as if with a bet)

wager (stake on the outcome of an issue)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The money risked on a gamble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

bet; stake; stakes; wager

Hypernyms ("wager" is a kind of...):

gamble (money that is risked for possible monetary gain)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wager"):

jackpot; kitty; pot (the cumulative amount involved in a game (such as poker))

ante ((poker) the initial contribution that each player makes to the pot)

kitty; pool (the combined stakes of the betters)

Holonyms ("wager" is a part of...):

pool (any communal combination of funds)

Derivation:

wager (stake on the outcome of an issue)

• WAGER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they wager    ... he / she / it wagers   
Past simple: wagered   
Past participle: wagered   
-ing form: wagering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stake on the outcome of an issue

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

bet; play; wager

Context example:

She played all her money on the dark horse

Hypernyms (to "wager" is one way to...):

gamble (play games for money)

Verb group:

play (make bets)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wager"):

back; bet on; gage; game; punt; stake (place a bet on)

play (make bets)

raise (bet more than the previous player)

see (match or meet)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

wager (the act of gambling)

wager (the money risked on a gamble)

wagerer (someone who bets)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Maintain with or as if with a bet

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bet; wager

Context example:

I bet she will be there!

Hypernyms (to "wager" is one way to...):

anticipate; call; forebode; foretell; predict; prognosticate; promise (make a prediction about; tell in advance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

wager (the act of gambling)

 Context examples 

“Nought to wager!” cried the soldier.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I would lay any wager it is about Miss Williams.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The more she knows him, the less she'll love him, I wager.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I believe I have that right within the terms of our wager.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I’ll wager that the black dress shows a corresponding mark to this.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Half-done! What are you saying? I never heard the name in my life, I’ll wager anything it is not in the calendar!”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She would clasp me round the neck and laugh, the while, as if I did it for a wager.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I’ll wager every man Jack of them is over the side to-morrow, hunting for Wolf Larsen as contentedly as ever they hunted for Death Larsen.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The tables were deserted, and the dealers and gamekeepers came forth to see the outcome of the wager and to lay odds.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

White Fang's backers were correspondingly depressed, and refused bets of ten to one and twenty to one, though one man was rash enough to close a wager of fifty to one.

(White Fang, by Jack London)