Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Oct 18, 2023
This week’s theme
Words derived from food

This week’s words
appanage
cake eater
grubstake
applesauce
interlard

grubstake
Grubstake: A Tale of Early Mining Days in Nevada
Image: Scribner

Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

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.

USAGE:
“Starting with a grubstake in the low six figures, Two Small Fish backed 22 companies, some of which became breakout stars in Canada.”
Sean Silcoff; Two Small Fish Aims to Take Big Bite of Tech Market With New Venture Fund; The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Oct 4, 2022.

“If Bezos had any particular ingenuity, it was in realizing that not only could Amazon avoid paying taxes to get a leg up over its competitors, but it could rely on witless local, state, and federal government representatives to actively grubstake the company’s growth. As a result, in 2018 Amazon contributed $0 in corporate tax on $11 billion in profit, and actually bagged a $129 million tax rebate. ‘[F]rom 2009 to 2018, the company paid an effective tax rate of 3 percent on profits totaling $26.5 billion’ writes MacGillis. Amazon wove a new social fabric by threading an astonishing number of loopholes in the American tax system.”
Alexander Sammon; In Bezosworld; The American Prospect (Princeton, New Jersey); Mar/Apr 2021.

See more usage examples of grubstake in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
What I like in a good author isn't what he says, but what he whispers. -Logan Pearsall Smith, essayist (18 Oct 1865-1946)

What they say

“Only Anu Garg, the founder of Wordsmith.org, can make word facts this much fun.”
Read more

St. Petersburg Times


More articles

Anu Garg on words

“There are exotic species of words jumping out inviting me to play. I weave them into a theme, a garland of words.”

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith