stake out

stake out (third-person singular simple present stakes out, present participle staking out, simple past and past participle staked out)

1. (transitive) To watch a location and/or people, generally covertly.
2. (transitive) To mark off the limits by stakes

   stake out land

   to stake out a new road

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI

     Bradley, von Schoenvorts and I, with Miss La Rue's help, staked out the various buildings and the outer wall. When the day was done, we had quite an array of logs nicely notched and ready for our building operations on the morrow, and we were all tired, for after the buildings had been staked out we all fell in and helped with the logging

3. (intransitive, croquet) To end the game by hitting the stake peg in the middle of the court.

• stakeout

• outskate, outtakes, takeouts, takes out