wage /wāj/

1. To engage in or carry on, esp war
2. (esp in pap) to pay wages to
3. To pledge, offer as a pledge (obsolete)
4. To wager (obsolete)
5. To hazard (obsolete)
6. To hire for pay (obsolete)
7. To bribe (obsolete)
8. To let out for pay (Spenser)

1. To be equal in value
2. To contend, battle

1. Payment for services, esp a regular payment made by an employer to an (unskilled or semi-skilled) employee, or (figurative) reward (both often wages, pl in form, but sometimes construed as sing)
2. A gage or pledge (obsolete)

waged adjective

wageˈless adjective and plural noun

wage differential noun

The difference in the wages paid to different classes of workers (eg skilled and unskilled) in an industry, or to workers doing similar jobs in different industries or areas

wageˈ-earner noun

1. Anyone who works for wages
2. The person who earns the money that supports, or money that helps to support, the household

wageˈ-earning noun

wage freeze noun

A fixing of wages at a certain level for some time ahead

wage fund, wages fund or wages-fund theory noun

The former theory that there is at any given time in a country a determinate amount of capital available for the payment of labour, therefore the average wage depends on the proportion of this fund to the number of people who have to share in it

wage packet noun

1. A small envelope in which a worker's wages are issued
2. (loosely) one's wages

wage plug noun (old Aust informal)

A wage-earner or wage slave

wage-push inflation noun

Inflation caused by wage increases

wages council noun

A body that settles wages, consisting of employers' and workers' representatives

wage slave noun

A person dependent on a (usu low) wage or salary

wage slavery noun

wage slip or wages slip noun

A pay slip

wage work noun

Work done for wages

living wage see under living

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