bet

bet

/bet/

You have to be over 16 to bet.

bet on/against somebody/something doing something I wouldn't bet on them winning the next election.

Not many people are betting against France retaining their title.

bet on/against something He likes betting on horses and watching table tennis.

bet something on something He bet $2 000 on the final score of the game.

bet something You shouldn't praise a gambler for betting his life savings if he wins.

bet somebody something (that) She bet me £20 (that) I wouldn't do it.

bet somebody (that) I bet her (that) the Democrats would not win.

bet something (that) He bet ten dollars (that) he could write a complete story in just six words.

bet (that)… I bet (that) we’re too late.

You can bet (that) the moment I sit down, the phone will ring.

I'm willing to bet (that) the analysts will be wrong.

bet somebody (that)… I’ll bet you (that) he knows all about it.

Idioms

bet

/bet/

1 an arrangement to risk money, etc. on the result of a particular event; the money that you risk in this way

to win/lose a bet

I was tempted to place a large bet.

bet on something We've got a bet on who's going to arrive first.

He had a bet on the horses.

They all put a bet on the race.

I hear you're taking bets on whether she'll marry him.

I did it for a bet (= because somebody had agreed to pay me money if I did).

‘Liverpool are bound to win.’ ‘Do you want a bet?’ (= I disagree with you, I don't think they will.)

​2 (informal) an opinion about what is likely to happen or to have happened

My bet is that they've been held up in traffic.

Collocations

adjective

goodsafesure…

verb + bet

havemakeplace…

preposition

bet onbet with

phrases

do something for a betit is my bet (that)…my bet is (that)……

Idioms

Word Origin

late 16th cent.: perhaps a shortening of the obsolete noun abet ‘abetment’.