I. ˈwāj verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English wagen to pledge, give as security, engage, employ, from Old North French wagier, from wage pledge
transitive verb
1. dialect : to put upon wages : engage , hire , employ
won't be able to wage them, like you wage hands, at sixteen shillings a month — John Masefield
2. : to bind oneself to : agree to abide the event of
wage trial by battle
— compare wager of law
3. : to engage in (as a contest) as if by previous gage or pledge : carry on actions that constitute or promote
wage war
wage a campaign
wage a battle
wage a filibuster
farmers still wage a losing fight with poor, stony land — American Guide Series: Connecticut
an intense game of bridge that had been waged en route — New York Times
we are now waging peace — J.F.Dulles
4. obsolete : to let out for hire or reward : hire out
5.
[by alteration]
: wedge vt 6
intransitive verb
: to be in process of occurring
the riot waged for several hours — American Guide Series: Maryland
controversy wages even more fiercely — O. Elfrida Saunders
II. noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, pledge, security, wage, from Old North French, of Germanic origin; akin to Gothic wadi pledge — more at wed
1.
a. : a pledge or payment of usually monetary remuneration by an employer especially for labor or services usually according to contract and on an hourly, daily, or piecework basis and often including bonuses, commissions, and amounts paid by the employer for insurance, pension, hospitalization, and other benefits ; especially : such remuneration paid to a skilled or unskilled laborer
pelt … would bring about fifty dollars which wasn't a bad wage for their two days' work — Robert Lund
the starting wage was $17.50 a month — J.L.Marshall
wage freeze
wage scale
— often used in plural but sometimes sing. in constr.
a freeman makes himself a servant to another by selling him for a certain time the service he undertakes to do in exchange for wages he is to receive — John Locke
work by the day at lower wages — Current Biography
— see living wage , minimum wage ; compare salary
b. wages plural but singular or plural in construction : the share of the annual product of national dividend that is the return to labor as distinct from the remuneration received by capital or land — compare interest , profit , rent
2. : recompense , requital , reward — usually used in plural but sing. or plural in constr.; used chiefly with of
for the wages of sin is death — Rom 6:23 (Revised Standard Version)
loving falsehood, ignorant of the wages of uprightness — E.J.Goodspeed
the gods give thee fair wage and dues of death — A.C.Swinburne
Synonyms:
wage or wages , salary , stipend , fee , pay , hire , and emolument can all mean the price paid someone for his labor or services. wage or wages applies chiefly to an amount paid daily or weekly especially for chiefly physical labor
earn a day's wage
receives his wages in cash once a week
salary and stipend usually apply to a fixed compensation commonly paid at longer intervals than wages and usually for services that require training or special ability, stipend often applying specially to the pay of a teacher, magistrate, or clergyman or to money received as from a scholarship or pension, and usually implying a relatively small sum
an executive's salary
the salary of a white-collar worker
a minister's stipend often includes the use of a house
a modest stipend from a retirement policy
fee applies to the price asked or paid for the services of a physician, lawyer, artist, or other professional
a lawyer's fee
a fee for professional services
pays its authors and illustrators very reasonable fees — Lilo Linke
pay is usually the equivalent of wages , salary , or stipend
a teacher's pay
a porter's pay
the pay scale of workers or executives
a clergyman's pay
hire is archaic in the sense of wages but occurs sometimes in the sense of rental fee
lends his pen for small hires — George Meredith
the films can be had at a reasonable hire charge — Paper & Print
emolument is bookish except in the plural when it often means the rewards, usually other than pay, of one's work or office
wages include emoluments of value, like pension and insurance benefits, which may accrue to employees out of their employment relationship — C.W.Boyce
old institutions whose prestige, influence and emoluments of power depend upon the preservation of the old order — John Dewey
salary £550 with no emoluments — Farmer & Stock-Breeder
on observing women kissing the veteran Franklin, he asked if that was one of the emoluments of his office — C.G.Bowers