Definition of: wage

(wāj) v.t. waged, wag·ing
1. To engage in and maintain vigorously; carry on: to wage war.
2. Obs. To pledge; put down as security; hence, to wager; bet.
3. Obs. To attempt; risk.
4. Brit. Dial. To pay a salary to; hire; employ.
—noun
1. Payment for service rendered, especially the pay of artisans or laborers receiving a fixed sum by the day, week, or month, or for a certain amount of work; hire.
2. plural The remuneration received by labor as distinguished from that received by capital, including the expenses incurred for superintendence and management, called respectively wages of superintendence and wages of management.
3. Figuratively, produce; yield.
4. Obs. A pledge; gage; also, the state of being pledged: to lay one's fortune in wage. See synonyms under SALARY. See LIVING WAGE, MINIMUM WAGE. [<AF wagier, OF guagier pledge <gage a pledge. Doublet of GAGE².] ♦ The plural of wage is sometimes construed as a singular: The wages of sin is death.
Wage may appear as a combining form in hyphemes or solidemes, or as the first element in two–word phrases: