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2 dictionary results for: pays
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| pay 1
(pā) Pronunciation Key
v. paid (pād), pay·ing, pays v. tr.
v. intr.
adj.
n.
Phrasal Verb(s): pay off
To give over the full monetary amount demanded. Idiom(s): pay (one's) dues To earn a given right or position through hard work, long-term experience, or suffering: She paid her dues in small-town theaters before being cast in a Broadway play. Idiom(s): pay (one's) way To contribute one's own share; pay for oneself. Idiom(s): pay the piper To bear the consequences of something. Idiom(s): pay through the nose Informal To pay excessively. [Middle English paien, from Old French paiier, from Late Latin pācāre, to appease, from Latin, to pacify, subdue, from pāx, pāc-, peace; see pag- in Indo-European roots.] Word History: Given the unpeaceful feelings one often has in paying bills or income taxes, it is difficult to believe that the word pay ultimately derives from the Latin word pāx, "peace." However, it is not the peace of the one who pays that is involved in this development of meaning. From pāx, meaning "peace" and also "a settlement of hostilities," was derived the word pācāre, "to impose a settlement on peoples or territories." In Late Latin pācāre was extended in sense to mean "to appease." The Old French word paiier that developed from Latin pācāre came to have the specific application "to pacify or satisfy a creditor," a sense that came into Middle English along with the word paien (first recorded around the beginning of the 13th century), the ancestor of our word pay. |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| pay 2
(pā) Pronunciation Key
tr.v. payed or paid (pād), pay·ing, pays To coat or cover (seams of a ship, for example) with waterproof material such as tar or asphalt. [Obsolete French peier, from Old French, from Latin picāre, from pix, pic-, pitch.] |
(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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