martingale

See also: Martingale

English

Alternative forms

• martingal

Etymology

Middle French martingale, from Occitan martegalo, feminine form of martegal, an inhabitant of Martigues, which is from Latin maritima. Alternatively from Spanish almártaga.

The meaning in gambling may come from an old usage of "à la martingale" to mean absurdly, foolishly.[1]

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

martingale (plural martingales)

1. A piece of harness used on a horse to keep it from raising its head above a desired point.
2. (nautical) A spar, or piece of rigging that strengthens the bowsprit.
3. (mathematics) 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.

4. A gambling strategy in which one doubles the stake after each loss.
5. (fencing) A strap attached to the sword handle, preventing a sword being dropped if disarmed.

Synonyms

• (piece of harness): tie-down

Derived terms

• anti-martingale
• submartingale
• supermartingale

Translations

piece of harness

• Catalan: martingala (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: martingal m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: martingaali
• French: martingale (fr) f
• German: Martingal n
• Hungarian: martingál
• Irish: iall bhrád f
• Japanese: 鞅 (ja) (むながい, munagai)
• Maori: mātinikera, mātini
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: martingal m

  Nynorsk: martingal m

• Polish: wytok m
• Portuguese: gamarra f
• Russian: мартинга́л (ru) m (martingál)
• Spanish: gamarra f

bowsprit strengthening

• Catalan: martingala (ca) f
• Finnish: vesiharus
• French: martingale (fr) f

a stochastic process relating random variables to earlier values

• Catalan: martingala (ca) f
• French: martingale (fr) f
• Hungarian: martingál

a gambling strategy in which one doubles the stake after each loss

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 纜／缆 (laam^6-2)

• French: martingale (fr) f

a strap attached to the sword handle, preventing a sword being dropped if disarmed

Verb

martingale (third-person singular simple present martingales, present participle martingaling, simple past and past participle martingaled)

1. To employ the martingale strategy in gambling.
   • 2012, Frank Scoblete, Casino Conquest:

     The Russians were both martingaling it—doubling their bets when they lost.

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

martingale f (plural martingales)

1. martingale

Further reading

• “martingale”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Noun

martingale f

1. plural of martingala

Anagrams

• lagrimante, matrignale