parlay

Etymology

The verb is derived from paroli (“cumulative bet in card games”), possibly modified under the influence of French parler (“to speak, talk”). Paroli is derived from French paroli (“double stake”), from Italian paroli, plural of parolo (first-person singular present indicative of parare (“to protect or shield (from); to prepare”), from Latin parāre, present active infinitive of parō (“to arrange, prepare; to furnish, provide”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; to carry forth, fare”)) + Italian -lo (suffix meaning ‘it; this or that thing’). The noun is derived from the verb.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive, 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.
   Shall we parlay the value of our products?
3. (transitive, by extension, generally) To convert (a situation, thing, etc.) into something better.
   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. 5 October 1957, W[ilfred] C[harles] Heinz, “Battler from the Backwoods”, in Ben Hibbs, editor, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 230, number 14, Philadelphia, Pa., London: Curtis Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 71, column 2
   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. 1968, Wayne Wilcox, “China’s Strategic Alternatives in South Asia”, in Tang Tsou, editor, China’s Policies in Asia and America’s Alternatives (China in Crisis; 2), Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, published 1969, page 408
   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. 1984, Laurel Herbenar Bossen, “Appendix One: Historical Background of Guatemala”, in The Redivision of Labor: Women and Economic Choice in Four Guatemalan Communities (SUNY Series in the Anthropology of Work), Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, page 321
   [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. 1994, Elizabeth A. Fay, “Romancing the Heroine, Reading the Self: Same Difference”, in Donaldo Macedo, editor, Eminent Rhetoric: Language, Gender, and Cultural Tropes (Series in Language and Ideology), Westport, Conn., London: Bergin & Garvey, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISSN, page 77
   [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. 19 April 2002, Scott Tobias, “Fightville”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2019-11-04
   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. 2013 October, Donna Kauffman, “Where There’s Smoke …”, in The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap, New York, N.Y.: Kensington Publishing, chapter 3, page 67
   [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. 1 June 2019, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-01-26
4. (intransitive) Alternative spelling of parley (“to have a discussion, especially one between enemies”)
   Jack "parlayed" with them until he had completed his task, and then he closed the gate in their faces. 1865, “Tom the Giant—His Wife Jane, and Jack the Tinkeard, as Told by the ‘Drolls’”, in Robert Hunt, editor, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (First Series), London: John Camden Hotten,[…], →OCLC, page 45

noun

1. (originally US, gambling) A bet or series of bets where the stake and winnings are cumulatively carried forward; an accumulator.
   GARNETT. (Sharply.) Would someone mind telling a visitor the details of this Operation Snitch? / DENNIS. Kind of a three-horse-parlay, Cliff: Posenleben, Schweinhafen … (Eyes Prescott and Jenks.) And one other. 1947, William Wister Haines, Command Decision: Play in Three Acts, acting edition, New York, N.Y.: Dramatists Play Service, published 1974, →OCLC, act I, page 17
   They heard the placing of bets of $1, $2 and $3 and $5 "round robin parlays" on horses with names such as Ham Bone, Little Colleen, Miss Ellaneous, Fighting Thru, Papa Charlie, Dandy Foot, William Tell, Knot Hole, Betsy Marie, Poocha and Under the Rug. 14 March 1955, Michael Musmanno, Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, “Appendix: Dissenting Opinion of Musmanno, J., of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania”, in In the Supreme Court of the United States: No. 111: October Term, 1955. Isaac Chaitt, Petitioner, v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Respondent. Petition for Writ of Certiorari and Appendix, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lemuel B. Schofield, attorney for petitioner, page 52
   The officer's affidavit was to the effect that he and another officer had made "extensive investigation of gambling operations" locally; he had information that a local printing company "printed parlay cards which were being used for betting on college and professional football games;" … 1 October 1973, Frank Holt, Associate Justice, Arkansas Supreme Court, “Appendix A: … Claude Earl Flaherty and Gene Whipple, Appellants v. State of Arksansas, Appellee”, in In the Supreme Court of the United States: October Term, 1973: Claude Earl Flaherty and Gene Whipple, Petitioners, v. State of Arkansas, Respondent. Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Arkansas, Fort Smith, Ark.: Franklin Wilder, counsel for petitioners, published 1973, page 21
   One of the most common and important types of probability problems is what gamblers call "parlays." When you bet a parlay, you are betting on the outcome of two or more events with the stipulation that all of your selection must be right in order for you to win. … Most gamblers think solely of sporting events when they think of parlays. Actually, any time you figure the probability that all of a number of events (each with its own separate probability) will occur you are figuring a parlay. 2005 March, David Sklansky, “Mathematics of Parlays”, in Getting the Best of It, Las Vegas, Nev.: Two Plus Two Publishing, part 1 (Probability: The Mathematics of Gambling), page 17