wage

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See also: Wage, wagę, and wäge

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /weɪd͡ʒ/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪdʒ

Etymology 1

From Middle English wage, from Anglo-Norman wage, from Old Northern French wage, a northern variant of Old French gauge, guage (whence modern French gage), Medieval Latin wadium, from Frankish *waddī (cognate with Old English wedd), from Proto-Germanic *wadją (“pledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge”). Akin to Old Norse veðja (“to pledge”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌹 (wadi), Dutch wedde. Compare also the doublet gage. More at wed.

Noun

wage (plural wages)

  1. (often in plural) An amount of money paid to a worker for a specified quantity of work, usually calculated on an hourly basis and expressed in an amount of money per hour.
    Before her promotion, her wages were 20% less.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wagen (“to pledge”), from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French wagier, a northern variant of Old French guagier (whence modern French gager), itself either from guage or from a derivative of Frankish *waddī, possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *wadiō from *wadium.

Verb

wage (third-person singular simple present wages, present participle waging, simple past and past participle waged)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To wager, bet.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To expose oneself to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To employ for wages; to hire.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xviij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:
      Thenne said Arthur I wille goo with yow / Nay said the kynges ye shalle not at this tyme / for ye haue moche to doo yet in these landes / therfore we wille departe / and with the grete goodes that we haue goten in these landes by youre yeftes we shalle wage good knyghtes & withstande the kynge Claudas malyce
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, “The Historie of Scotlande, ”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande , volume I, London: for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, page 113, column 1:
      [B]etter it as for him to trie the vttermoſt pointe of fortunes happe, than with diſhonour ſo to yeelde at the firſt blow of hyr frowarde hande, conſidering the abundance of treaſure whiche he had in ſtore, wherewith hee might wage ſouldiers and menne of warre out of Germanie and other places, in number ſufficient to matche with his enimies.
  4. (transitive) To conduct or carry out (a war or other contest).
    • 2019 May 5, Danette Chavez, “Campaigns are Waged On and Off the Game Of Thrones Battlefield (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎, archived from the original on 28 January 2021:
      Setting our sights back on King’s Landing, where the Last War will be waged, makes a lot of sense, even if it does feel a bit anticlimactic after last week’s deadly, blustery maelstrom.
    • 1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. , London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC:
      The two are waging war, and the one triumphs by the destruction of the other.
    • 1709, John Dryden, Mac Flecknoe:
      pond'ring which of all his Sons was fit / To Reign, and wage immortal War with Wit
  5. (transitive) To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out.
  6. (obsolete, law, UK) To give security for the performance of
Usage notes
  • "Wage" collocates strongly with "war", leading to expressions such as To wage peace, or To wage football implying the inclusion of a large element of conflict in the action.
Derived terms
Translations

References

  1. ^ Alexander M Burrill (1850–1851) “WAGE”, in A New Law Dictionary and Glossary: , volumes (please specify |part= or |volume=I or II), New York, N.Y.: John S. Voorhies, , →OCLC.

Anagrams

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

wage

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of wagen

German

Pronunciation

Verb

wage

  1. inflection of wagen:
    1. first-person singular present
    2. first/third-person singular subjunctive I
    3. singular imperative

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch wāga, from Proto-West Germanic *wāgu.

Noun

wâge f

  1. weight
  2. a certain weight, of which the exact value varied
  3. weighing scale
  4. weighhouse

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Dutch: waag

Further reading

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old Northern French wage, from Frankish *wadi, from Proto-Germanic *wadją. Doublet of gage and wed.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

wage (plural wages)

  1. A wage; earnings.
  2. Money reserved for the payment of salaries.
  3. An earned positive consequence.
  4. A promise, pact, or agreement.
Related terms
Descendants
References

Etymology 2

Verb

wage

  1. Alternative form of wagen

Old English

Pronunciation

Noun

wāge

  1. dative singular of wāg

Old French

Etymology 1

From Old Norse vágr.

Noun

wage oblique singular, f (oblique plural wages, nominative singular wage, nominative plural wages)

  1. wave (moving part of a liquid, etc.)

Etymology 2

see gage

Noun

wage oblique singular, m (oblique plural wages, nominative singular wages, nominative plural wage)

  1. (Old Northern French) Alternative form of gage

Proto-Norse

Romanization

wāgē

  1. Romanization of ᚹᚨᚷᛖ
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