stake something ↔ out phrasal verb informal (see also stake)

1. to watch a place secretly and continuously ⇒ stakeout:
Police officers have been staking out the warehouse for weeks.

2. to mark or control a particular area so that you can have it or use it:
We went to the show early to stake out a good spot.

3. to state your opinions about something in a way that shows how your ideas are clearly separate from other people’s ideas:
Johnson staked out the differences between himself and the other candidates.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

stake out
stake (someone) out
watch someone, often secretly.
A television news crew staked her out from a next-door neighbor's yard.

For a week, police staked out the suspect.

stake out (something)
1.
to claim something belongs to you.
To avoid a long wait to eat lunch, one of you stakes out a table and the other gets the food.

Lars staked out a cot in a third-floor bedroom and tried to make it seem like his own space.

2.
to secretly watch a place.
Private detectives staked out their house, went through their garbage, and interviewed their neighbors.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

stake out something
stake out (something)
1.
to claim something belongs to you.
To avoid a long wait to eat lunch, one of you stakes out a table and the other gets the food.

Lars staked out a cot in a third-floor bedroom and tried to make it seem like his own space.

2.
to secretly watch a place.
Private detectives staked out their house, went through their garbage, and interviewed their neighbors.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲

stake someone out
stake (someone) out
watch someone, often secretly.
A television news crew staked her out from a next-door neighbor's yard.

For a week, police staked out the suspect.

stake out (something)
1.
to claim something belongs to you.
To avoid a long wait to eat lunch, one of you stakes out a table and the other gets the food.

Lars staked out a cot in a third-floor bedroom and tried to make it seem like his own space.

2.
to secretly watch a place.
Private detectives staked out their house, went through their garbage, and interviewed their neighbors.

[TahlilGaran] English Idioms Dictionary ▲