payroll

[ pey-rohl ]

noun

1. a list of employees to be paid, pay, with the amount due to each.
2. the sum total of these amounts.
3. the actual money on hand for distribution:

   The bandits got away with the payroll.

4. the total number of people employed by a business firm or organization.

verb (used with object)

1. to fund or subsidize:

   to be payrolled by the State Department.

payroll

/ ˈpeɪˌrəʊl /

noun

1. a list of employees, specifying the salary or wage of each
2. 1. the total of these amounts or the actual money equivalent
   2. ( as modifier )

      a payroll tax

Word History and Origins

Origin of payroll¹

First recorded in 1765–75; pay ¹ + roll

Example Sentences

In some cases, we checked town payroll records to see whether officers hired after 2010 were selling back unused sick time annually.

From ProPublica

Unions are backing a proposal that would provide $15 billion in payroll support to keep workers on the job through the end of September.

From Washington Post

The report precedes Friday’s monthly jobs report, which is projected to show that private payrolls grew by 105,000 in January after declining by 95,000 in December.

From Washington Post

Sharing payroll data works even better as a means of economic incentive, some experts argue.

From Ozy

Long-term, most managers don’t make their teams perform better than their payrolls suggest they should.

From FiveThirtyEight

Begich has courageously talked of eliminating the payroll tax cap of around $115,000.

From The Daily Beast

“There is always at least one ISIS person on the payroll; they force people on us,” says an aid coordinator.

From The Daily Beast

The temporary reduction of Social Security payroll taxes was allowed to expire in early 2013.

From The Daily Beast

Even with several judges on her payroll, Mandelbaum was not able to squirm out of the charges.

From The Daily Beast

The team with the biggest payroll is almost always going to win in league games.

From The Daily Beast

How the payroll cash was brought from up the line in an armored car to the bank before opening time in the morning.

From Project Gutenberg

Hit would interfere with his gittin' a bank opened and himself back on the payroll.

From Project Gutenberg

"Twelve hundred and thirty-one tens," he read from the payroll change slip before him.

From Project Gutenberg

Galileo was cut off the Standard Oil payroll, and forced to apply to a teachers' agency, that he might find employment.

From Project Gutenberg

"Got it," he informed the payroll he had been trying to add for half an hour.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• amount
• budget
• charge
• consumption
• debt
• expenditure
• insurance
• investment
• liability
• loan
• loss
• mortgage
• obligation
• outlay
• price
• price tag
• rate
• risk
• spending
• sum