Past tense of claim; asserted ownership or right to something, or stated something as fact without providing proof.
From Old French 'clamer', from Latin 'clamare' meaning to shout or call out. The legal sense developed because claims were traditionally made by public proclamation in ancient courts.
The phrase 'staking a claim' comes from American gold rush miners who would literally drive wooden stakes into the ground to mark their territory - a practice so fundamental that it shaped both mining law and the metaphorical use of 'claiming' anything.
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