GRUBSTAKE

PRONUNCIATION: (GRUHB-stayk)

MEANING: noun: 1. Funds supplied for launching an enterprise in return for a share of the profits.
2. Money or other assistance provided to sustain someone in difficult circumstances.
verb tr.: To supply with funds.

ETYMOLOGY: From grub (food) + stake (share). The term has origins in gold mining, where miners would get investors to fund their efforts in return for a cut of the profits. Earliest documented use: 1863.
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GRUBS TALE - a naked snail's biography

DRUB-STAKE - a stick smaller than a man's thumb, which in old English common law was OK for a man to beat his wife with, otensibly

GRUBSTARE - the look of horror at finding half a grub in the apple you just bit into