sake

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Purpose; motive: a quarrel only for the sake of argument.
2. n. Advantage; good: for the sake of his health.
3. n. Personal benefit or interest; welfare: for her own sake.
4. n. A Japanese liquor made from fermented rice.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Strife; contention; dispute.
2. n. Fault; guilt.
3. n. Purpose; purpose of obtaining or achieving: as, to labor for the sake of subsistence.
4. n. Cause; account; reason; interest; regard to any person or thing: as, without sake: now always preceded by for, with a possessive: as, for my sake; for heaven's sake. When the posses sive is plural, the noun is often made plural also: as, “for your fair sakes” (Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 765); “for both our sakes” (Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 15). The final s of the possessive is often merged with the initial s of sake, and thus disappears: as, “for heaven sake” (Shak., K. John, iv. 1. 78); “for fashion sake” (Shak., As you Like it, iii. 2. 271); etc. Compare “for conscience sake,” etc.
5. n. A Japanese fermented liquor made from rice. It contains from 11 to 17 per cent. of alcohol, and is heated before being drunk.
6. n. The generic name in Japan for all kinds of spirituous liquors, whether made from grain or grapes, fermented or distilled.
7. n. Same as saki.
8. n. A land-spring; a wet spot where the water oozes forth.
9. n. The magma or pulpy coagulum deposited from the waste liquors of wool-washing after addition of sulphuric acid. It is pressed cold to remove water; then, with hot pressing, it yields a dark-colored, sticky grease, known as Yorkshire grease, and a residual ‘seed-cake’ used as a fertilizer.

Wiktionary

1. n. Cause, interest or account.
2. n. Purpose or end; reason.
3. n. The benefit or regard of someone or something.
4. n. obsolete except in phrases Contention, strife; guilt, sin, accusation or charge.
5. n. countable and uncountable Rice wine, a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Final cause; end; purpose of obtaining; cause; motive; reason; interest; concern; account; regard or respect; -- used chiefly in such phrases as, for the sake of, for his sake, for man's sake, for mercy's sake, and the like.
2. n. a traditional alcoholic drink of Japan. It is made from rice.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the purpose of achieving or obtaining
2. n. Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice; usually served hot
3. n. a reason for wanting something done