dake n Also sp daik [Appar of Scots origin; cf SND (and SND Suppl.) daigie “A game of marbles. . . Also played with spinning tops. . . Also in reduced form daig, a stake at marbles.” The forms daikie and daik are also attested from Edinburgh, and dake from New Zealand (see DNZE) and Australia.] Also called bait n1 4, date n Cf ante n, dake v
In marble (rarely top) play: The marbles (or other objects) that are staked by the players and won by knocking them out of the ring; small, cheap marbles used for this purpose; hence phrr grab dakes (and run).
1921 Tacoma Daily Ledger (WA) 14 Apr 1/7,“Hey, Red! Get out yer migs. I’ll play yuh keeps!” “Rounders!” “Grab dakes, the bell’s ringin’!” Tacoma school grounds resound these days with the boy’s language of spring. 1925 Springfield Union (MA) 6 Apr 12/5, The tournament supervisor then measured each shooter with a marble gage. . . With mibs, the supervisor was not quite so particular. . . This was because in manufacturing the small clay marbles called mibs, dakes, ducks, hoodles, commies, etc., it is impossible to turn them out in exact sizes. 1930 Electrical Dealer Oct 42, It took a lot of dakes to glom on to one good shooter and a genuine agate was worth a lot of aggies. 1930 Tacoma Daily Ledger (WA) 1 Apr 3/2, “Grab dakes” and “run,” however, will be taboo, according to “Wally” Streeter, who is supervising the tournaments, as all contests will be for “fair.” 1951 Recreation (NY) 45.24, Other bits of terminology include: . . “dakes,” the stakes risked for keeps in the game. 1957 Sat. Eve. Post Letters cwWA (as of c1900), When a number of marbles were put up for stakes or, as commonly expressed ‘dakes,’ ‘Dough Babes[’] were used. Since they were carelessly fashioned and of low value they were very seldom used as ‘playing’ marbles but rather as ‘counters.’ 1958 Ibid swMO (as of c1914), Each player tried to get at least two marbles as this was called his “daiks” and of course prevented a loss in that particular game. 1967 Raleigh Reg. (Beckley WV) 5 June 5/6 (as of 1920s), Each player put up the same number of “stakes” or “dakes” or “dates” (depending on what part of town you were from) and all were bunched as closely as possible in the center of the ring. 1989 TX Folkl. Soc. Pub. 48.166, The targets in this game were bottle caps, which were placed cork-side up in a ring that might vary from two to three feet in diameter. The object of the game was to knock the caps from the ring without the top’s sticking in the ring. . . Ben Capps sent in the same game, but he and his friends used a different kind of prize and target: “We chose for our ‘dakes’ . . the small metal tags stuck on plugs of chewing tobacco.” 1991 Ft. Worth Star–Telegram (TX) 25 Sept Westside sec 3/4 (as of c1940), If the bell signaling the end of recess interrupted the game, players would “grab dakes and run.” That meant they retrieved their remaining marbles and dashed for their next classes. 2002 Houston Chron. (TX) 6 Oct sec A 35 (Internet) cTX (as of c1930), Say you wanted to join a game of bullring, in which the players shot at a group of marbles in the center of the circle. The targets were dakes, put up by the players to qualify them to take part. . . In marbles you’d hear it said, “You want to play, put up dakes.” This was when we were playing “keeps.”
Etymological Supplement:
1965 Ritchie Golden City 64, Stakie—Also called “Ringie” or “Daikie.” On the ground you chalk or scratch a ring , into which all the players put an equal share of bools. . . Then . . each rolls one bool and the nearest to the ring gets first plonk at the bools inside. If this player knocks one bool out of the ring, he keeps it. . . When he misses, the next nearest gets the chance of plonking, and when all the “daik [deck, staked bools] ” is finished , a fresh game is started. [This is a book about Edinburgh street games.]
1930 Wellington Times (New South Wales) 27 Nov sec 2 7/3, I’m back in the playground in me knickers. The bell! I grab me dakes and smug one over.
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1949 The Poultry Farmer 16.17, There is no doubt that the gambling element existed when we put our ‘dakes’ in. The better player to get admission, giving the odds by “daking” 30 to the other’s 20—a 6 to 4 on bet, and there’s no other name for it. Finally, when one player is “broke” he dakes his “connie” for so many “commonce.” [This journal is published by the Egg Marketing Board for the State of New South Wales.]