wage

[ weyj ]

/ weɪdʒ /

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.

to stake or wager.
to pledge.

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

Obsolete. to contend; struggle.

Nearby words

waft, waftage, wafter, wafture, wag, wage, wage determination, wage differential, wage earner, wage incentive, wage scale

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

SYNONYMS FOR wage

1 earnings, emolument, compensation, remuneration. See pay¹.

5 undertake, prosecute.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR wage ON THESAURUS.COM

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

Can be confusedsalary wages

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
Miss Peasey's wages were in arrears, and he must pay her £4 10s.
Plashers Mead|Compton Mackenzie
Them school-bills, you know, I've always paid out o' my wages—that's why Jed let her go.
The Underdog|F. Hopkinson Smith
But occasional acts of drunkenness, if the seaman in other respects performs his duty, will not deprive him of his wages.
The Seaman's Friend|Richard Henry Dana
Yet, at the end of the season, the laborer has usually exhausted his wages and may be in debt to the planter.
The Philippine Islands|Ramon Reyes Lala
To be two or three days behind with his wages, for instance, was impossible.
White Nights and Other Stories|Fyodor Dostoevsky

British Dictionary definitions for wages

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 basisCompare salary
(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 (1 of 2)

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.

Word Origin and History for wages (1 of 2)

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).

Culture definitions for wages

wages

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

wage

noun

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

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

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Origin of wage

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British Dictionary definitions for wages

wage

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for wage

Word Origin and History for wages (1 of 2)

wage

Word Origin and History for wages (1 of 2)

wage

Culture definitions for wages

wages

wage

.css-1gxch3{color:#1a1a1a;font-size:18px;font-weight:normal;font-style:italic;}noun

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

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Origin of wage

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British Dictionary definitions for.css-ylq2vz{color:#1a1a1a;} wages

wage

noun

verb (tr)

Word Origin for wage

Word Origin and History for wages (1 of 2)

wage

Word Origin and History for wages (1 of 2)

wage

Culture definitions for wages

wages

noun

British Dictionary definitions for wages