Wage

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Wage, v. t. [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, gawadjōn to pledge, akin to E. wed, G. wette a wager. See Wed, and cf. Gage.].

•  To pledge; to hazard on the event of a contest; to stake; to bet, to lay; to wager; as, to wage a dollar.  Hakluyt.  [1913 Webster]

  "My life I never but as a pawn
  To wage against thy enemies."  [1913 Webster]
•  To expose one's self to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "To wake and wage a danger profitless."  [1913 Webster]
•  To engage in, as a contest, as if by previous gage or pledge; to carry on, as a war.  [1913 Webster]

  " [He pondered] which of all his sons was fit
  To reign and wage immortal war with wit."  [1913 Webster]

  "The two are waging war, and the one triumphs by the destruction of the other."  [1913 Webster]
•  To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  To put upon wages; to hire; to employ; to pay wages to.  [1913 Webster]

  "Abundance of treasure which he had in store, wherewith he might wage soldiers."  [1913 Webster]

  "I would have them waged for their labor."  [1913 Webster]
•  To give security for the performance of.  Burrill.  [1913 Webster]

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.

Wage, v. i. 

 To bind one's self; to engage.  [1913 Webster]

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

•  That which is staked or ventured; that for which one incurs risk or danger; prize; gage.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  That for which one labors; meed; reward; stipulated payment for service performed; hire; pay; compensation; -- at present generally used in the plural. See Wages.  [1913 Webster]

  " 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."  [1913 Webster]

  "By Tom Thumb, a fairy page,
  He sent it, and doth him engage,
  By promise of a mighty wage,
  It secretly to carry."  [1913 Webster]

  "Our praises are our wages."  [1913 Webster]

  "Existing legislation on the subject of wages."  [1913 Webster]

Board wages. See under 1st Board.

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

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Wage, n. & v.
--n.
1 (in sing. or pl.) a fixed regular payment, usu. daily or weekly, made by an employer to an employee, esp. to a manual or unskilled worker (cf. SALARY).
2 (in sing. or pl.) requital (the wages of sin is death).
3 (in pl.) Econ. the part of total production that rewards labour rather than remunerating capital.
--v.tr. carry on (a war, conflict, or contest).

Idiom

living wage a wage that affords the means of normal subsistence. wage-claim = pay-claim (see PAY(1)). wage-earner a person who works for wages. wages council a board of workers' and employers' representatives determining wages where there is no collective bargaining. wage slave a person dependent on income from labour in conditions like slavery.

Etymology

ME f. AF & ONF wage, OF g(u)age, f. Gmc, rel. to GAGE(1), WED

THESAURUS

Wage

base pay, carry on, compensation, conduct, dismissal wage, do, earnings, employ, engage in, escalator clause, escalator plan, exercise, financial remuneration, follow, go in for, gross income, guaranteed annual wage, hire, income, living wage, minimum wage, net income, pay, pay and allowances, payment, payroll, portal-to-portal pay, practice, prosecute, purchasing power, pursue, real wages, remuneration, salary, severance pay, sliding scale, specialize in, tackle, take on, take to, take up, take-home, take-home pay, taxable income, total compensation, undertake, use, wage control, wage freeze, wage reduction, wage rollback, wage scale, wages, wages after deductions, wages after taxes, work at