English Online Dictionary. What means wage? What does wage mean?
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /weɪd͡ʒ/
- 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). Compare also the doublet gage. More at wed.
Noun
wage (plural wages)
- 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.
Synonyms
- earnings, pay, salary
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 *waddi, *wadja, possibly through a Vulgar Latin intermediate *wadiare from *wadium.
Verb
wage (third-person singular simple present wages, present participle waging, simple past and past participle waged)
- (transitive, obsolete) To wager, bet.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- My life I never held but as a pawn / To wage against thy enemies.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Hakluyt to this entry?)
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- (transitive, obsolete) To expose oneself to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- too weak to wage an instant trial with the king
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- to wake and wage a danger profitless
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- (transitive, obsolete) To employ for wages; to hire.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter 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
- (Can we date this quote?) Raphael Holinshed
- abundance of treasure which he had in store, wherewith he might wage soldiers
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xviij, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:
- (transitive) To conduct or carry out (a war or other contest).
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
- [He pondered] which of all his sons was fit / To reign and wage immortal war with wit.
- (Can we date this quote?) Isaac Taylor
- The two are waging war, and the one triumphs by the destruction of the other.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
- (transitive) To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out.
- (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
- Thou […] must wage thy works for wealth.
- (Can we date this quote?) Edmund Spenser
- (obsolete, law, Britain) To give security for the performance of.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)
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
- wager (agent noun)
Translations
Anagrams
- waeg
Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
wage
- (archaic) singular present subjunctive of wagen
German
Verb
wage
- First-person singular present of wagen.
- First-person singular subjunctive I of wagen.
- Third-person singular subjunctive I of wagen.
- Imperative singular of wagen.
Middle Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch wāga, from Proto-Germanic *wēgō.
Noun
wâge f
- weight
- a certain weight, of which the exact value varied
- weighing scale
- weighhouse
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Derived terms
- wâgen
Descendants
- Dutch: waag
Further reading
- “waghe (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- “wage (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old Northern French wage, from Frankish *waddī, from Proto-Germanic *wadją. Doublet of gage and wed.
Alternative forms
- wag, vage
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwaːdʒ(ə)/
Noun
wage (plural wages)
- A wage; earnings.
- Money reserved for the payment of salaries.
- An earned positive consequence.
- A promise, pact, or agreement.
Related terms
- wagen
Descendants
- English: wage
- Scots: wage
References
- “wāǧe (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.
Etymology 2
From Old Northern French wagier.
Verb
wage
- Alternative form of wagen
Old French
Etymology 1
Old Norse vágr.
Noun
wage f (oblique plural wages, nominative singular wage, nominative plural wages)
- wave (moving part of a liquid, etc.)
Etymology 2
see gage
Noun
wage m (oblique plural wages, nominative singular wages, nominative plural wage)
- Alternative form of gage