wage

[weyj]

See more synonyms for wage on Thesaurus.com

noun

Often wages. money that is paid or received for work or services, as by the hour, day, or week.Compare living wage, minimum wage.
Usually wages. Economics. the share of the products of industry received by labor for its work (as distinct from the share going to capital).
Usually wages. (used with a singular or plural verb) recompense or return: The wages of sin is death.

Obsolete. a pledge or security.

verb (used with object), waged, wag·ing.

to carry on (a battle, war, conflict, argument, etc.): to wage war against a nation.
Chiefly British Dialect. to hire.
Obsolete.
1. to stake or wager.
2. to pledge.

verb (used without object), waged, wag·ing.

Obsolete. to contend; struggle.

Origin of wage

1275–1325; (noun) Middle English: pledge, security < Anglo-French; Old French guage gage¹ < Vulgar Latin *wadium < Germanic (see wed); (v.) Middle English wagen to pledge < Anglo-French wagier; Old French guagier < Vulgar Latin *wadiāre, derivative of *wadium

Related formswage·less, adjectivewage·less·ness, nounun·der·wage, noun

Can be confusedsalary wages

Synonyms for wage

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1. earnings, emolument, compensation, remuneration. See pay¹. 5. undertake, prosecute.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for wages

salary, hire, pay, compensation, earnings, income

Examples from the Web for wages

Contemporary Examples of wages

On Friday, the stock market hit new highs—even as wages were stagnating.
With Immigration Move, Obama and the Welfare Party Strike Again
Lloyd Green
November 24, 2014
Harping about a Republican war on women while wages stagnate and growth sputters is trivial and desperate.
Earth to DNC: Dyspeptic Dad Still Votes, Too
Lloyd Green
November 11, 2014
Annual wages range from $10,000-$13,000, well below the poverty line of $23,000 for a family of four.
We're All Living on The Supermarket Plantation
Lewis Beale
November 8, 2014
Wages are stagnant and middle-class household incomes continue to decline.
Voters Remind D.C. That the Economy Still Sucks
Stuart Stevens
November 6, 2014
The miners themselves went on strike again and again, trying to get their wages raised.
In Chile, Poetry Outlives the Dictators
Jay Parini
October 27, 2014

Historical Examples of wages

Then you could have stayed in the factory, and got your wages regularly every week.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
So I am to report my discharge to you, and ask you for my wages.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
Do not show yourselves ungrateful to the Corn by denying her servants their wages.
The Trail Book
Mary Austin
The next spring he hired me regular and give me wages every month.
The Underdog
F. Hopkinson Smith
I now got my wages for the Canton voyage; but they lasted me only a fortnight!
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for wages

wage

noun

1. (often plural)payment in return for work or services, esp that made to workmen on a daily, hourly, weekly, or piece-work basisCompare salary
2. (as modifier)wage freeze
(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
(often plural) recompense, return, or yield
an obsolete word for pledge

verb (tr)

to engage in
obsolete to pledge or wager
archaic another word for hire (def. 1), hire (def. 2)

Derived Formswageless, adjectivewagelessness, noun

Word Origin for wage

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

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 wages

wage

early 14c., "to pledge, deposit as a pledge," from Old North French wagier (Old French gagier), from wage (see wage (n.)). Meaning "to carry on" (of war, etc.) is attested from mid-15c., probably from earlier sense of "to offer as a gage of battle" (early 15c.). Related: Waged; waging.

wage

c.1300, "a payment for services rendered," also in Middle English "a pledge of security" (mid-14c.), from Old North French wage (Old French guage) "pledge," from Frankish *wadja- (cf. Old English wedd, Gothic wadi "pledge"); see wed. Modern French cognate gages (plural) means "wages of a domestic," one of a plethora of French words for different classes, e.g. traitement (university professor), paye, salaire (workman), solde (soldier), récompense, prix. The Old English word was lean, related to loan and representing the usual Germanic form (cf. Gothic laun, Dutch loon, German lohn).

wages in Culture

wages

Payment for services to a worker, usually remuneration on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis.