sweepstakes

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English swepestake (“one who sweeps up, or wins, all the stakes in a game”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from Middle English swepen (“to sweep”) + stake (“stake, prize”).^[3][7][4][8] The OED takes the first part as the combining form of the verb sweep and the second as the noun stake, money risked on an outcome, and compares swoopstake.^[9] The Middle English form is also spelt swepe stake, as in the phrase “make sweep stake”, to sweep the board, and Etymonline compares the Middle English phrase “wipe the stake” in the same sense.^[7][9] The form ending in -s is construed as singular or plural.^[10][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who takes the whole of the stakes, usually figuratively one who takes everything: 1495, as the name of one of King Henry VII's ships, "the Swepestake".^[9][3] The OED notes that from the 15th to the 17th century the word was common as a ship's name.^[9] Hendrickson sees no clear link between the ship's name and the gambling term, which he dates to 1593.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From 1542 to 1653 to make sweepstake or to play sweepstake meant to make a clean sweep, to clear everything away, as in Nicholas Udall's translation of Erasmus.^[9][8] The modern sense appears in 1773, of a prize won in a race or contest in which the winner takes all the stakes paid in by the competitors, and soon of the race itself.^[9][3][7] The notion was that the winner took everything, rather than the stakes being shared among the leading finishers;^[7][11] by 1862 the word was also used of any betting arrangement in which the pooled stakes went to one or several winners.^[9][3][7] Hendrickson points out that large lotteries such as the Irish Sweepstakes divided the money among many winners.^[11] It also became a word for any competitive race, as in political reporting,^[4] and for a promotional contest in which prizes go to randomly drawn entries.^[12][4]

Timeline

• 1495 – a person who takes all the stakes; as a ship's name.^[9][3]
• 1542 – a clean sweep, total clearance, in to play sweepstake (obsolete by 1653).^[9][8]
• 1773 – a prize won in a race or contest in which the winner takes all the stakes; later the race itself.^[9][3][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1774.^[4]
• 1862 – a betting arrangement or lottery in which the pooled stakes go to one or several winners.^[9][3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lottery in which the money paid in by all the participants forms the prize for one or more winners.^[13][8][9]
2. A race or contest, especially a horse race, in which the whole prize may go to the winner, the stakes being made up at least partly of the owners' entry fees.^[4][13][12]
3. Any race, contest or competition: the mayoral sweepstakes.^[4]
4. A promotional contest that awards prizes to entries drawn at random.^[12][4]
5. The prize won in such a lottery or race.^[13][9]
6. (obsolete, 1495–1688) A person who takes all the stakes, or figuratively everything.^[9][8]
7. (obsolete, 1542–1653) A clean sweep; total removal.^[9][8]

Related words

• sweep
• stake

Usage notes

In Australian and New Zealand English the word is often shortened to sweep, especially for a draw in which participants are given horses by chance, as for the Melbourne Cup.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
12. ^ a b c Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
13. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
14. ^ Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Deverson, Tony; Kennedy, Graeme, eds. (2005), The New Zealand Oxford Dictionary, Auckland: Oxford University Press