emolument

[ih-mol-yuh-muh nt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR emolument ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

profit, salary, or fees from office or employment; compensation for services: Tips are an emolument in addition to wages.

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. 2019

Related Words for emolument

profit, pay, compensation

Examples from the Web for emolument

Historical Examples of emolument

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.
The Letters of Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Finally all salaries were henceforth to be in lieu of every emolument.
The History of the British Post Office
Joseph Clarence Hemmeon

British Dictionary definitions for emolument

emolument

noun

the profit arising from an office or employment, usually in the form of fees or wages

Word Origin for emolument

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

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).