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Poker. a fixed but arbitrary stake put into the pot by each player before the deal.
an amount of money paid in advance to insure an individual’s share in a joint business venture.
Informal. an individual’s share of the total expenses incurred by a group.
Informal. the price or cost of something.
Poker. to put (one’s initial stake) into the pot.
to produce or pay (one’s share) (usually followed by up):
He anted up his half of the bill.
Poker. to put one’s initial stake into the pot.
Informal. to pay (usually followed by up).
Historical Examples

Then doo they take and breake them, as aforesaide, so that their pultrie dooth increase in such number as though they were antes.
The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof, Volume I (of 2) Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza

antes me dejar cortar la lengua que aconsejar una bellaquera.
Doa Perfecta Benito Prez Galds

Eminently qualified by numerous public responsibilities, the antes brothers were major leaders of the Fair Play settlers.
The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 George D. Wolf

Quintana’s poem rang like a trumpet call over the land: “antes la muerte que consentir jams ningn tirano!”
Heroic Spain Elizabeth Boyle O’Reilly

antes me rea de toda obra violenta, de las exageraciones de los hombres impetuosos, como de las brutalidades de los malvados.
Doa Perfecta Benito Prez Galds

The antes family had long played a significant role in the history of the Province of Pennsylvania.
The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 George D. Wolf

antes recibir yo diez docenas10 de ellos que recomendar a un cristiano la administracin de tales medicinas.
Doa Perfecta Benito Prez Galds

The leadership of the antes brothers is further accentuated by the activities of Frederick antes.
The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 George D. Wolf

Las mas recentes noticias que tenian en Demeraria, antes de mi salida, eran medias tristes, medias alegres.
Wanderings in South America Charles Waterton

antes de las seis coronaramos la altura de los Andes occidentales, a donde nos proponamos subir.
Heath’s Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader Ernesto Nelson

noun
the gaming stake put up before the deal in poker by the players
(informal) a sum of money representing a person’s share, as in a syndicate
(informal) up the ante, to increase the costs, risks, or considerations involved in taking an action or reaching a conclusion: whenever they reached their goal, they upped the ante by setting more complex challenges for themselves
verb -tes, -teing, -ted, -teed
to place (one’s stake) in poker
(usually foll by up) (informal, mainly US) to pay

1838 (n.), 1846 (v.), American English poker slang, apparently from Latin ante “before,” from PIE *anti “facing opposite, near, in front of, before” (cf. Sanskrit antah “end, border, boundary,” Hittite hanti “opposite,” Greek anta, anten “opposite,” anti “over against, opposite, before;” Old Lithuanian anta “on to;” Gothic anda “along;” Old English and- “against;” German ent- “along, against”), from root *ant- “front, forehead.”

Related Terms

penny ante, up the ante