Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Wage

Wage

,
Verb.
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, ga
wadjōn
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.
Shakespeare
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.
Shakespeare
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
,
Noun.
Burrill.
–
To wage one's law
(Law)
,
to give security to make one's law. See
Wager of law
, under
Wager
,
Noun.

Wage

,
Verb.
I.
To bind one's self; to engage.
[Obs.]

Wage

,
Noun.
[OF.
wage
,
gage
, guarantee, engagement. See
Wage
,
Verb.
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
.
Shakespeare
Existing legislation on the subject of
wages
.
Encyc. Brit.
☞ 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.

Webster 1828 Edition

Wage

WAGE

, v.t.
1.
To lay; to bet; to throw down as a pledge; to stake; to put at hazard on the event of a contest. Thisis the common popular sense of the word in New England; as, to wage a dollar; to wage a horse.
2.
To venture; to hazard.
To wake and wage a danger profitless.
3.
To make; to begin; to carry on; that is, to go forward or advance to attack, as in invasion or aggression; used in the phrase, to wage war. he waged war with all his enemies.
He ponderd which of all his sons was fit
To reign, and wage immortal war with wit.
4.
To set to hire.
Thou must wage Thy works for wealth. [Not in use.]
5.
To take to hire; to hire for pay; to employ for wages; as eaged soldiers. He was well waged and rewarded.
To wage oness law, to give security to make ones law. The defendent is then to swear that he owes nothing to the plaintiff, and eleven neighbors, called compurgators, are to avow upon their oaths, that they believe in their consciences he has declared the truth. This is called wager of law.

Definition 2024

Wage

Wage

See also: wage and wäge

German

Noun

Wage f ‎(genitive Wage, plural Wagen)

  1. Obsolete spelling of Waage

wage

wage

See also: Wage and wäge

English

Noun

wage ‎(plural wages)

  1. An amount of money paid to a worker for a specified quantity of work, usually calculated on an hourly basis and expressed in an amount of money per hour.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wagen ‎(“to pledge”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wagier, a northern variant of Old French guagier (whence modern French gager), itself either from guage or from a derivative of Frankish *waddi, *wadja, possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *wadiare from *wadium.

Verb

wage ‎(third-person singular simple present wages, present participle waging, simple past and past participle waged)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To wager, bet.
    • William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
      My life I never held but as a pawn / To wage against thy enemies.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Hakluyt to this entry?)
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To expose oneself to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To employ for wages; to hire.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xviij, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:
      Thenne said Arthur I wille goo with yow / Nay said the kynges ye shalle not at this tyme / for ye haue moche to doo yet in these landes / therfore we wille departe / and with the grete goodes that we haue goten in these landes by youre yeftes we shalle wage good knyghtes & withstande the kynge Claudas malyce
    • Raphael Holinshed (1529-1580)
      abundance of treasure which he had in store, wherewith he might wage soldiers
  4. (transitive) To conduct or carry out (a war or other contest).
    • John Dryden (1631-1700)
      [He pondered] which of all his sons was fit / To reign and wage immortal war with wit.
    • Isaac Taylor (1787–1865)
      The two are waging war, and the one triumphs by the destruction of the other.
  5. (transitive) To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out.
    • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
      Thou […] must wage thy works for wealth.
  6. (obsolete, law, Britain) To give security for the performance of.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)
Usage notes
  • "Wage" collocates strongly with "war", leading to expressions such as To wage peace, or To wage football implying the inclusion of a large element of conflict in the action.
Derived terms
Translations

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

wage

  1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of wagen

German

Verb

wage

  1. First-person singular present of wagen.
  2. First-person singular subjunctive I of wagen.
  3. Third-person singular subjunctive I of wagen.
  4. Imperative singular of wagen.

Old French

Etymology 1

Old Norse vágr. More at French vague.

Noun

wage f ‎(oblique plural wages, nominative singular wage, nominative plural wages)

  1. wave (moving part of a liquid, etc.)

Etymology 2

see gage

Noun

wage m ‎(oblique plural wages, nominative singular wages, nominative plural wage)

  1. Alternative form of gage

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman, from Old Northern French wage, a northern variant of Old French gauge, guage (whence modern French gage), itself (possibly through a Vulgar Latin *wadium) from Frankish *waddi (cognate with Old English wedd), from Proto-Germanic *wadją ‎(“pledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- ‎(“to pledge, redeem a pledge”). Akin to Old Norse veðja ‎(“to pledge”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌹 ‎(wadi). Compare also the doublet gage. More at wed. Possible contributory etymology from from Old English wǣge (meaning "weight," as wages at times have been goods or coin measured on a scale).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /weɪd͡ʒ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

Similar Results