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Pay   /peɪ/   Listen
verb
Pay  v. t.  (past & past part. paid; pres. part. paying)  (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. t.  (past & past part. paid; pres. part. paying)  
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)." "(She) pays me with disdain."
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."
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." "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." "If they pay this tax, they starve."
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."
5.
To give or offer, without an implied obligation; as, to pay attention; to pay a visit. "Not paying me a welcome."
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.
(c)
to bribe.
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.)



Pay  v. i.  (past & past part. paid; pres. part. paying)  
1.
To give a recompense; to make payment, requital, or satisfaction; to discharge a debt. "The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again."
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."
To pay off.
(a)
(Naut.) To fall to leeward, as the head of a vessel under sail.
(b)
to repay (a debt).
To pay on. To beat with vigor; to redouble blows. (Colloq.)
To pay round (Naut.) To turn the ship's head.



noun
Pay  n.  
1.
Satisfaction; content.
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." "There is neither pay nor plunder to be got."
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)
a roll or list of persons entitled to payment, with the amounts due; now usually one word, payroll.
(b)
the total sum of money which is paid to all employees on payday.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Pay" Quotes from Famous Books



... approval Senate bill No. 139, entitled "An act to credit and pay to the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia all moneys collected under the direct tax levied by the act of Congress approved ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 8: Grover Cleveland, First Term. • Grover Cleveland

... spent some of the rather large pay she drew upon coverings of French blue for the plush furniture, upon a dainty yellow porcelain tea-set, upon little oddments of decoration. The wall-paper and carpet were inoffensive, the quietest probably in Millings, so that her efforts had ...
— Hidden Creek • Katharine Newlin Burt

... first I must speak to you about a poor woman with whom I have accidentally been talking, who has begged me to intercede with you to pay a little debt that she thinks you have forgotten, but that probably ...
— Cecilia Volume 1 • Frances Burney

... Odin. Now, therefore, the king sent an edict addressed to Eutharic and Bishop Peter, ordaining that a pecuniary contribution should be levied on all the Christian citizens of Ravenna, out of which the synagogues should be rebuilt, and that those who were not able to pay their share of this contribution should be flogged through the streets, the crier going behind them and in a loud voice proclaiming their offence. The order was doubtless obeyed, but from that day there was a secret spirit of rebellion in the hearts of ...
— Theodoric the Goth - Barbarian Champion of Civilisation • Thomas Hodgkin

... Street, Philadelphia." He described himself as a printer by trade, and said that he had come over when he was a younger man, in the hope of bettering himself, and for the sake of seeing the Old Country, but had never since been rich enough to pay his homeward passage. His manner and accent did not quite convince me that he was an American, and I told him so; but he steadfastly affirmed, "Sir, I was born and have lived in Ninety-second Street, Philadelphia," and then went on to describe some public ...
— Our Old Home - A Series of English Sketches • Nathaniel Hawthorne


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