wage

[ weyj ]
See synonyms for: wagewagedwageswaging on Thesaurus.com

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).

  1. Usually wages. (used with a singular or plural verb) recompense or return: The wages of sin is death.

  2. Obsolete. a pledge or security.

verb (used with object),waged, wag·ing.
  1. to carry on (a battle, war, conflict, argument, etc.): to wage war against a nation.

  2. Chiefly British Dialect. to hire.

  1. Obsolete.

    • to stake or wager.

    • to pledge.

verb (used without object),waged, wag·ing.
  1. Obsolete. to contend; struggle.

Origin of wage

1
First recorded in 1275–1325; (noun) Middle English: “pledge, security,” from Anglo-French; Old French guagegage1, from unattested Vulgar Latin wadium, from Germanic (see wed); (verb) Middle English wagen “to pledge,” from Anglo-French wagier;Old French guagier, from unattested Vulgar Latin wadiāre, derivative of wadium

synonym study For wage

1. See pay1.

Other words for wage

Other words from wage

  • wageless, adjective
  • wage·less·ness, noun
  • un·der·wage, noun

Words that may be confused with wage

Words Nearby wage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wage in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for wage

wage

/ (weɪdʒ) /


noun
    • (often plural) payment in return for work or services, esp that made to workmen on a daily, hourly, weekly, or piece-work basis: Compare salary

    • (as modifier): wage freeze

  1. (plural) economics the portion of the national income accruing to labour as earned income, as contrasted with the unearned income accruing to capital in the form of rent, interest, and dividends

  1. (often plural) recompense, return, or yield

  2. an obsolete word for pledge

verb(tr)
  1. to engage in

  2. obsolete to pledge or wager

  1. archaic another word for hire (def. 1), hire (def. 2)

Origin of wage

1
C14: from Old Northern French wagier to pledge, from wage, of Germanic origin; compare Old English weddian to pledge, wed

Derived forms of wage

  • wageless, adjective
  • wagelessness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012