Pay, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Paid; p. pr. & vb. n. Paying.]
Etymology: [OE. paien, F. payer, fr. L. pacare to pacify, appease, fr. pax, pacis, peace. See Peace.]
1. To satisfy, or content; specifically, to satisfy (another person) for service rendered, property delivered, etc.; to discharge one's obligation to; to make due return to; to compensate; to remunerate; to recompense; to requite; as, to pay workmen or servants. May no penny ale them pay [i. e., satisfy]. P. Plowman. [She] pays me with disdain. Dryden.
2. Hence, figuratively: To compensate justly; to requite according to merit; to reward; to punish; to retort or retaliate upon. For which, or pay me quickly, or I'll pay you. B. Jonson.
3. To discharge, as a debt, demand, or obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required; to deliver the amount or value of to the person to whom it is owing; to discharge a debt by delivering (money owed). "Pay me that thou owest." Matt. xviii. 28. Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Matt. xviii. 26. If they pay this tax, they starve. Tennyson.
4. To discharge or fulfill, as a duy; to perform or render duty, as that which has been promised. This day have I paid my vows. Prov. vii. 14.
1 more senses
5. To give or offer, without an implied obligation; as, to pay attention; to pay a visit. Not paying me a welcome. Shak. To pay off. (a) To make compensation to and discharge; as, to pay off the crew of a ship. (b) To allow (a thread, cord, etc.) to run off; to unwind. -- To pay one's duty, to render homage, as to a sovereign or other superior. -- To pay out (Naut.), to pass out; hence, to slacken; to allow to run out; as, to pay out more cable. See under Cable. -- To pay the piper, to bear the cost, expense, or trouble. [Colloq.]
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Pay, v. t.
(Naut.)
To cover, as bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc., with tar or pitch, or waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear.
Pay, v. i.
To give a recompense; to make payment, requital, or satisfaction; to discharge a debt. The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again. Ps. xxxvii. 21.
2. Hence, to make or secure suitable return for expense or trouble; to be remunerative or profitable; to be worth the effort or pains required; as, it will pay to ride; it will pay to wait; politeness always pays. To pay for. (a) To make amends for; to atone for; as, men often pay for their mistakes with loss of property or reputation, sometimes with life. (b) To give an equivalent for; to bear the expense of; to be mulcted on account of. 'T was I paid for your sleeps; I watched your wakings. Beau. & Fl. -- To pay off. Etym: [Etymol. uncertain.] (Naut.) To fall to leeward, as the head of a vessel under sail. -- To pay on. Etym: [Etymol. uncertain.] To beat with vigor; to redouble blows. [Colloq.] -- To pay round Etym: [Etymol. uncertain.] (Naut.) To turn the ship's head.
Pay, n.
1. Satisfaction; content. Chaucer.
2. An equivalent or return for money due, goods purchased, or services performed; salary or wages for work or service; compensation; recompense; payment; hire; as, the pay of a clerk; the pay of a soldier. Where only merit constant pay receives. Pope. There is neither pay nor plunder to be got. L'Estrange. Full pay, the whole amount of wages or salary; maximum pay; especially, the highest pay or allowance to civil or military officers of a certain rank, without deductions. -- Half pay. See under Half. -- Pay day, the day of settlement of accounts. -- Pay dirt (Mining), earth which yields a profit to the miner. [Western U.S.] -- Pay office, a place where payment is made. -- Pay roll, a roll or list of persons entitled to payment, with the amounts due.
Shades of meaning
An allowance is a stipulated amount furnished at regular intervals as a matter of discretion or gratuity, as of food to besieged soldiers, or of money to a child or ward. Compensation is a comprehensive word signifying a return for a service done. Remuneration is applied to matters of great amount or importance. Recompense is a still wider and loftier word, with less suggestion of calculation and market value; there are services for which affection and gratitude are the sole and sufficient recompense; earnings, fees, hire, pay, salary, and wages are forms of compensation and may be included in compensation, remuneration, or recompense. Pay is commercial and strictly signifies an exact pecuniary equivalent for a thing or service, except when the contrary is expressly stated, as when we speak of "high pay" or "poor pay." Wages denotes what a worker receives. Earnings is often used as exactly equivalent to wages, but may be used with reference to the real value of work done or service rendered, and even applied to inanimate things; as, the earnings of capital. Hire is distinctly mercenary or menial, but as a noun has gone out of popular use, tho the verb to hire is common. Salary is for literary or professional work, wages for handicraft or other comparatively inferior service; a salary is regarded as more permanent than wages; an editor receives a salary, a compositor receives wages. Stipend has become exclusively a literary word. A fee is given for a single service or privilege, and is sometimes in the nature of a gratuity. Compare requite.