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emolument

[ih-mol-yuh-muh nt]
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noun
  1. profit, salary, or fees from office or employment; compensation for services: Tips are an emolument in addition to wages.
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Origin of emolument

1470–80; < Latin ēmolumentum advantage, benefit, equivalent to ēmol(ere) to grind out, produce by grinding (ē- e-1 + molere to grind; see mill1) + -u-, variant before labials of -i- -i- + -mentum -ment
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

profitpaycompensation

Examples from the Web for emolument

Historical Examples

  • The Emperor was not only the fountain of all honor, but of all emolument and place.

    Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume I (of II)

    Charles James Lever

  • They were surprised to find that the emolument was so trifling.

    Bruin

    Mayne Reid

  • Usually they are lawyers who have won preferment and emolument.

    The American Empire

    Scott Nearing

  • The work will be no joke, but the emolument is too tempting to resist.

  • Finally all salaries were henceforth to be in lieu of every emolument.

British Dictionary definitions for emolument

emolument

noun
  1. the profit arising from an office or employment, usually in the form of fees or wages
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Word Origin

C15: from Latin ēmolumentum benefit; originally, fee paid to a miller, from ēmolere, from molere to grind
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

Word Origin and History for emolument

n.

mid-15c., from Middle French émolument and directly from Latin emolumentum "profit, gain," perhaps originally "payment to a miller for grinding corn," from emolere "grind out," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + molere "to grind" (see mallet).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper