martingale
noun
- type of dog collar that provides more control over the animal
Wiktionary
noun
Etymology: From Middle French martingale, from Occitan martegalo, feminine form of martegal, an inhabitant of Martigues, which is from Latin maritima. Possibly merged with Spanish almártaga. The meaning in gambling may come from an old usage of "à la martingale" to mean absurdly, foolishly.https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/class/sem/html/home/notes/martingales/martingales.pdf
- A piece of harness used on a horse to keep it from raising its head above a desired point.
“I’ll be bound, Lady Ashton understands every machine for breaking in the human mind, and there are as many as there are cannon-bit, martingales, and cavessons for young colts.”
- A spar, or piece of rigging that strengthens the bowsprit.
- A stochastic process for which the conditional expectation of future values given the sequence of all prior values is equal to the current value.
“If a gambler plays a fair game repeatedly, his payoff over time is a martingale.”
- A gambling strategy in which one doubles the stake after each loss.
- A strap attached to the sword handle, preventing a sword being dropped if disarmed.
verb
Etymology: From Middle French martingale, from Occitan martegalo, feminine form of martegal, an inhabitant of Martigues, which is from Latin maritima. Possibly merged with Spanish almártaga. The meaning in gambling may come from an old usage of "à la martingale" to mean absurdly, foolishly.https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/class/sem/html/home/notes/martingales/martingales.pdf
- To employ the martingale strategy in gambling.
“The Russians were both martingaling it—doubling their bets when they lost.”