gamble

Etymology

It is probably from English game + -le, formed in English on either the verb or the noun game;^[2][3][4] the ending may be the frequentative suffix, or the word may reflect a form of game with a short vowel, and the -b- is a later intrusive consonant.^[2] Etymonline and Hoad take it from gamel (“to play games”), recorded in the 16th century,^[5][6][3] itself an alteration of gamenen (“to play, jest, be merry”),^[5][6][7] which continues Old English gamenian (“to play, joke”), from gamen (“game, fun”).^[5][8][9] Merriam-Webster thinks the verb is probably a back-formation from gambler,^[10] and the OED and Barnhart note that gambling (1726) and gambler (1747) are recorded before the verb, so that either derivation is possible.^[2][7] Etymonline and Barnhart suggest that the -b- comes from confusion with the unrelated gambol,^[5][7] and Weekley also thought gambol had a part in the form.^[11] The OED compares dialect gammle (“to gamble”) in Yorkshire and Ulster, and gamel in 19th-century Northumberland.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To strip someone of something, especially money, by gambling, with out of: 1753, in an Essay on Deism; this sense is now rare.^[2] The participle gambling, playing for high stakes, is recorded from 1726.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The word was at first regarded as slang,^[5] and Weekley notes that in the 18th century it carried a sense of cheating.^[11] The ordinary intransitive sense, to play games of chance for money or to bet on an event, is recorded from 1757,^[2][12] the date Merriam-Webster also gives.^[10] From the start of the 19th century it was used of risk-taking in general: to take reckless risks from 1802 and to stake something on an uncertain outcome, gamble on, from 1804.^[2] The transitive sense, to squander money by gambling, usually gamble away, is recorded from 1764,^[2] though Etymonline dates it to 1808.^[5] The noun followed the verb: a risky venture from 1823, in William Cobbett's Rural Rides,^[2][7][5] a bout of gambling from 1785, and a single bet from 1883.^[2] Colloquial assurances such as you can gamble on that are recorded from 1862.^[2] In Yorkshire dialect gammle meant to toss a coin in gambling, and in southern Nottinghamshire gamble meant to deceive or play a trick on someone.^[13]

Timeline

• 1726 – gambling, playing for high stakes.^[7][5]
• 1747 – gambler.^[7]
• 1753 – to strip someone of money by gambling.^[2]
• 1757 – to play games of chance for money.^[2][10]
• 1764 – to lose or squander by gambling.^[2]
• 1785 – noun, a bout of gambling.^[2]
• 1802 – to take reckless risks.^[2]
• 1823 – noun, a risky venture.^[2][5]
• 1883 – noun, a bet.^[2]
• 1919 – to take a chance that something will turn out as hoped.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To play games of chance for money or other stakes; to bet on the outcome of a race, match or other event.
2. To risk money or something else of value on an uncertain result: They gambled their savings on the new shop.
3. To take a risk in the hope of success, often with on: The organisers gambled on a dry weekend.
4. To lose money or property by gambling, usually gamble away; to squander.

Noun

1. A risky act, venture or course of action undertaken in the hope of success.
2. A wager or bet; a spell of gambling.

Word family

• gambler
• outgamble
• overgamble

Related words

• game
• gambol

Usage notes

A separate word gamble, a variant of gambrel, has meant the hock of a horse since 1703, and a butcher's frame for hanging carcasses, also called a gamble stick, since 1831.^[2][14] It is now regional and rare.^[2] Dictionary.com lists gamble and gambol among words that are easily confused.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House