Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An agreement usually between two parties that the one who has made an incorrect prediction about an uncertain outcome will forfeit something stipulated to the other; a wager.
  • noun An amount or object risked in a wager; a stake.
  • noun One on which a stake is or can be placed.
  • noun A plan or an option considered with regard to its probable consequence.
  • noun Informal A view or opinion, especially about something that cannot be known at the present time.
  • intransitive verb To stake (an amount, for example) in a bet.
  • intransitive verb To make a bet with.
  • intransitive verb To make a bet on (a contestant or an outcome).
  • intransitive verb To maintain confidently, as if making a bet.
  • intransitive verb To make or place a bet.
  • idiom (you bet) Of course; surely.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An obsolete preterit of beat.
  • Obsolete and earlier Middle English form of better.
  • noun In faro, a card which is a case, that is, the only one of that denomination remaining in the box: so called because the player cannot be split.
  • To pledge as a forfeit to another who makes a similar pledge in return, on a future contingency, in support of an affirmation or opinion; stake; wager.
  • To lay a wager; stake money or anything of value upon a contingency.
  • noun The pledging of some valuable thing, as money (or of the doing of some onerous act), to bc forfeited, in ease some future event happens contrary to the assertion or belief of the one making the pledge, to another who pledges a forfeit in return on the opposite contingency.
  • noun That which is wagered; also, that about which a wager is made.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • obsolete imp. & p. p. of beat.
  • obsolete An early form of better.
  • [Obs.] to go fast; to hurry.
  • transitive verb To stake or pledge upon the event of a contingent issue; to wager.
  • noun That which is laid, staked, or pledged, as between two parties, upon the event of a contest or any contingent issue; the act of giving such a pledge; a wager.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • abbreviation knitting between
  • noun Alternative form of beth.
  • noun A wager, an agreement between two parties that a stake (usually money) will be paid by the loser to the winner (the winner being the one who correctly forecast the outcome of an event).
  • noun A degree of certainty.
  • verb To agree that payment be made to the successful forecaster of the result of an event (usually sporting) by the other party in the agreement. To make a guess about the outcome of an event.
  • verb To be sure of something; to be able to count on something.
  • verb poker To place money into the pot in order to require others do the same, usually only used for the first person to place money in the pot on each round.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb stake on the outcome of an issue
  • noun the money risked on a gamble
  • noun the act of gambling
  • verb maintain with or as if with a bet
  • verb have faith or confidence in

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Hebrew בית (béyt)

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From 16th century criminal slang, likely from abet or Old English bætan ("to make better").

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Examples

  • Romney would only using the term "bet" symbolically - the man doesn't drink nor smoke and has probably never even bought a $2 lottery ticket.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • I truly believe this set back, although horrific, my bet is they will recover and move on, hopefully sooner than soon.

    Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries 2010

  • Of course since I had my meeting with my favorite party club of dealers-The PNG, they have issued only one statement and seem to be intent of claiming to try and define what makes up the standard for a coin being doctored (my bet is they will NEVER end the debate).

    Laura Sperber’s Hot Topics – BACK TO HELL? : Coin Collecting News 2010

  • If the team loses by exactly two points, the bet is a push.

    Archive 2009-04-01 Azmie aka switch image 2009

  • I truly believe this set back, although horrific, my bet is they will recover and move on, hopefully sooner than soon.

    Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries 2010

  • I truly believe this set back, although horrific, my bet is they will recover and move on, hopefully sooner than soon.

    Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries 2010

  • Tie on some 7x tippet to each reel and jerk it out as hard as you can, I have not done this but my bet is the 7x will break on the Clearwater when the smooth drag of the CFO will protect the lighter tippet.

    More On Budget Tackle 2009

  • I truly believe this set back, although horrific, my bet is they will recover and move on, hopefully sooner than soon.

    Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries 2010

  • Tie on some 7x tippet to each reel and jerk it out as hard as you can, I have not done this but my bet is the 7x will break on the Clearwater when the smooth drag of the CFO will protect the lighter tippet.

    More On Budget Tackle 2009

  • I truly believe this set back, although horrific, my bet is they will recover and move on, hopefully sooner than soon.

    Monarch Butterfly Sanctuaries 2010

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