Wiktionary

wage

See also: Wage, wagę, and wäge

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

edit

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

edit

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
edit
Derived terms
edit
Translations
edit

Etymology 2

edit

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

edit

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

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To wager, bet.
    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      My life I never held but as a pawn / To wage against thine enemies
  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: […] [Henry Bynneman] 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[1], 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[1]
Usage notes
edit
  • "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
edit
Translations
edit

References

edit
  1. ^ Alexander M[ansfield] 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

edit

Dutch

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

wage

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

German

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

wage

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

Middle Dutch

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Noun

edit

wâge f

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

Inflection

edit

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

edit

Descendants

edit
  • Dutch: waag

Further reading

edit

Middle English

edit

Etymology 1

edit

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

Alternative forms

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

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.
edit
Descendants
edit
References
edit

Etymology 2

edit

Verb

edit

wage

  1. Alternative form of wagen

Old English

edit

Pronunciation

edit
  • IPA(key): /ˈwɑː.ɡe/, [ˈwɑː.ɣe]

Noun

edit

wāge

  1. dative singular of wāg

Old French

edit

Etymology 1

edit

From Old Norse vágr.

Noun

edit

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

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

Etymology 2

edit

see gage

Noun

edit

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

  1. (Old Northern French) Alternative form of gage

Proto-Norse

edit

Romanization

edit

wāgē

  1. Romanization of ᚹᚨᚷᛖ
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=wage&oldid=80876564"