sweepstakes (swepstaks)

sing. or pl. 1. A gaming transaction, in which a number of persons contribute a certain stake, which becomes the property of one or of several of the contributors under certain conditions. Thus, in horse-racing each of the contributors has a horse a igned to him (usually by lot), and the person to whom the winning horse is a igned takes the whole stakes, or the stakes may be divided between two or three who draw the first two or three horses in the race. There was a general notion that a sweepstakes differed from a lottery in that the winner swept away the whole of the stakes (hence the name), whereas in a lottery the person who held the bank made a large profit. This distinction existed in theory rather than in fact, and. the sweepstakes were declared illegal as lotteries by a decision of the courts in 1845. Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 842. 2. A prize in a horse-race or other contest, made up of several stakes.-31. Same as sweep stake, 1.-4. A race for all the stakes contributed, sometimes with money added. The Time Test Stakes is a sweepstakes for all ages at three-quarters of a mile, with $1,250 added. New York Evening Post , June 28, 1889. sweep-washer (swēp'wosh"èr), n. In gold -and silver-refining, a person who extracts from the sweepings, potsherds, etc., the small particles of gold or silver contained in them.