Definition of breath for Students. 1  1 : ability to breathe : ease of breathing I lost my breath for a moment. 2  2 : air taken in or sent out by the lungs Hold your breath. 3  3 : a slight breeze a breath of wind.
Definition of 'raise the stakes'. raise the stakes. a. to increase the amount of money or valuables hazarded in a gambling game. b. to increase the costs, risks, or considerations involved in taking an action or reaching a conclusion. the Libyan allegations raised the stakes in the propaganda war between Libya and the United States. stake.
Pole is from the same source, as are impale, paling and palisade. This meaning has been around in English since the fourteenth century and by the end of that century pale had taken on various figurative senses â a defence, a safeguard, a barrier, an enclosure, or a limit beyond which it was not permissible to go. The idea of an enclosed area still exists in some English dialects.