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wage
9 dictionary results for: wage
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
wage       [weyj] Pronunciation Key, noun, verb, waged, wag·ing.
–noun
1.Often, wages. money that is paid or received for work or services, as by the hour, day, or week. Compare living wage, minimum wage.
2.Usually, wages. Economics. the share of the products of industry received by labor for its work (as distinct from the share going to capital).
3.Usually, wages. (used with a singular or plural verb) recompense or return: The wages of sin is death.
4.Obsolete. a pledge or security.
–verb (used with object)
5.to carry on (a battle, war, conflict, argument, etc.): to wage war against a nation.
6.Chiefly British Dialect. to hire.
7.Obsolete.
a.to stake or wager.
b.to pledge.
–verb (used without object)
8.Obsolete. to contend; struggle.

[Origin: 1275–1325; (n.) ME: pledge, security < AF; OF guage gage1 < VL *wadium < Gmc (see wed); (v.) ME wagen to pledge < AF wagier; OF guagier < VL *wadiāre, deriv. of *wadium]

wageless, adjective
wage·less·ness, noun

1. earnings, emolument, compensation, remuneration. See pay1. 5. undertake, prosecute.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
wage       (wāj)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. Payment for labor or services to a worker, especially remuneration on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis or by the piece.
  2. wages Economics The portion of the national product that represents the aggregate paid for all contributing labor and services as distinguished from the portion retained by management or reinvested in capital goods.
  3. A fitting return; a recompense. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb: the wages of sin.

tr.v.   waged, wag·ing, wag·es
To engage in (a war or campaign, for example).


[Middle English, from Old North French, of Germanic origin.]

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
wage  (n.)
c.1300, "a payment for services rendered," also in M.E. "a pledge of security" (1338), from O.N.Fr. wage (O.Fr. guage) "pledge," from Frank. *wadja- (cf. O.E. wedd, Gothic wadi "pledge"); see wed. Mod.Fr. cognate gages (pl.) means "wages of a domestic," one of a plethora of Fr. words for different classes, e.g. traitement (university professor), paye, salaire (workman), solde (soldier), récompense, prix. The O.E. (and usual Gmc.) word was lean, related to loan (cf. Goth. laun, Du. loon, Ger. lohn)

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
wage  (v.)
c.1320, "to pledge, deposit as a pledge," from O.N.Fr. wagier (O.Fr. gagier), from wage (see wage (n.)). Meaning "to carry on" (of war, etc.) is attested from 1456, probably from earlier sense of "to offer as a gage of battle" (c.1430).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
wage

noun
1. something that remunerates; "wages were paid by check"; "he wasted his pay on drink"; "they saved a quarter of all their earnings" 

verb
1. carry on (wars, battles, or campaigns); "Napoleon and Hitler waged war against all of Europe" [syn: engage

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: wage
Function: noun
1 : a payment usually of money for labor or services usually according to a contract and on an hourly, daily, or piecework basis —often used in pl.
2 plural : the share of the national product attributable to labor as a factor in production

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wage

Wage\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Waged; p. pr. & vb. n. Waging.] [OE. wagen, OF. wagier, gagier, to pledge, promise, F. gager to wager, lay, bet, fr. LL. wadium a pledge; of Teutonic origin; cf. Goth. wadi a pledge, gawadj[=o]n to pledge, akin to E. wed, G. wette a wager. See Wed, and cf. Gage.]

1. To pledge; to hazard on the event of a contest; to stake; to bet, to lay; to wager; as, to wage a dollar. --Hakluyt.

My life I never but as a pawn To wage against thy enemies. --Shak.

2. To expose one's self to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard. "Too weak to wage an instant trial with the king." --Shak.

To wake and wage a danger profitless. --Shak.

3. To engage in, as a contest, as if by previous gage or pledge; to carry on, as a war.

[He pondered] which of all his sons was fit To reign and wage immortal war with wit. --Dryden.

The two are waging war, and the one triumphs by the destruction of the other. --I. Taylor.

4. To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out. [Obs.] "Thou . . . must wage thy works for wealth." --Spenser.

5. To put upon wages; to hire; to employ; to pay wages to. [Obs.]

Abundance of treasure which he had in store, wherewith he might wage soldiers. --Holinshed.

I would have them waged for their labor. --Latimer.

6. (O. Eng. Law) To give security for the performance of. --Burrill.

To wage battle (O. Eng. Law), to give gage, or security, for joining in the duellum, or combat. See Wager of battel, under Wager, n. --Burrill.

To wage one's law (Law), to give security to make one's law. See Wager of law, under Wager, n.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wage

Wage\, v. i. To bind one's self; to engage. [Obs.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wage

Wage\, n. [OF. wage, gage, guarantee, engagement. See Wage, v. t. ]

1. That which is staked or ventured; that for which one incurs risk or danger; prize; gage. [Obs.] "That warlike wage." --Spenser.

2. That for which one labors; meed; reward; stipulated payment for service performed; hire; pay; compensation; -- at present generally used in the plural. See Wages. "My day's wage." --Sir W. Scott. "At least I earned my wage." --Thackeray. "Pay them a wage in advance." --J. Morley. "The wages of virtue." --Tennyson.

By Tom Thumb, a fairy page, He sent it, and doth him engage, By promise of a mighty wage, It secretly to carry. --Drayton.

Our praises are our wages. --Shak.

Existing legislation on the subject of wages. --Encyc. Brit.

Note: Wage is used adjectively and as the first part of compounds which are usually self-explaining; as, wage worker, or wage-worker; wage-earner, etc.

Board wages. See under 1st Board.

Syn: Hire; reward; stipend; salary; allowance; pay; compensation; remuneration; fruit.

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