Meaning

(ambitransitive, gambling) To carry forward the stake and winnings from a bet on to a subsequent wager or series of wagers..

Definitions by Sense

1. (ambitransitive, gambling) To carry forward the stake and winnings from a bet on to a subsequent wager or series of wagers.
2. (transitive, by extension) To increase (an asset, money, etc.) by gambling or investing in a daring manner.
3. (transitive, by extension, generally) To convert (a situation, thing, etc.) into something better.
4. (intransitive) Alternative spelling of parley (“to have a discussion, especially one between enemies”).
5. (originally US, gambling) A bet or series of bets where the stake and winnings are cumulatively carried forward; an accumulator.

Example Sentences

Shall we parlay the value of our products?

They believe that if [Roy] Harris can maintain his standing among the leading heavyweights, they can parlay this rating with Texas enthusiasm and oil money into enticing Floyd Patterson into coming down and defending his heavyweight title against Roy.

K[avalam] M[adhava] Panikkar's concept of Indian Ocean regional security, the Indian-inspired Colombo Plan, [Jawaharlal] Nehru's architectonic role in the creation of the Nasser–Nehru–Tito neutralist axis and the Bandung gambit of legitimizing China's entry into the constraints of the comity of nations were efforts to parlay general Indian weakness into strength, its positions of regional strength into hegemony, and resultant regional hegemony into parity with China in a peace of peers.

Guatemala has remained a society organized to harness an impoverished, segmented rural labor force for the production of exports that a small landowning elite, in partnership with foreign commercial interests, parlays into profit in world markets.

[Oliver] Stone's vision, to decode the top secret message hidden in the CIA archives, parlays conspiracy theory onto screen memory, and as he clearly hopes, into history.

[Petra] Epperlein and [Michael] Tucker focus on two featherweight hopefuls: Dustin Poirier, a formidable contender who's looking to parlay a history of schoolyard violence and street-fighting into a potential career, and Albert Stainback, a more thoughtful yet more erratic and undisciplined fighter whose chief gimmick is entering the ring wearing a hat like the one Malcolm McDowell wore in A Clockwork Orange.

She knew she should put off thinking about starting up anything until after finishing her cookie column commitment … and figuring out how to parlay that into a job that would carry her into the new year and beyond.

[Mike] Skinner retired the Streets in 2011 after five albums that successfully parlayed UK garage to Oasis fans (and everyone else), earning much adulation, a No 1 – Dry Your Eyes, from 2004's A Grand Don't Come for Free – and the counterweight of occupational hazards.

Word Forms

• parlays
• parlaying
• parlayed
• parley

Synonyms for parlay

Related Words

When Should You Use Parlay?

Use parlay when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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