Pay meaning
An example of to pay is giving money to a server at a restaurant for a meal.
Pay the cashier.
Paid four dollars for a hamburger; paid an hourly wage.
Paying taxes; paid the bill.
She paid the price for her unpopular opinions.
A savings plan that paid six percent interest.
It paid us to be generous.
Paying compliments; paying attention.
You'll pay for this mischief!
It doesn't pay to get angry.
A pay toilet.
A pay streak.
The workers in our pay.
Paid $50 into the credit union.
A job that pays $90
It will pay him to listen.
A stock that pays poorly.
Pay gravel.
A pay telephone, pay toilet.
Pay TV.
To pay the seams of a wooden ship.
She offered to pay the bill; he has paid his debt to society.
It didn't pay him to keep the store open any more.
He was allowed to go as soon as he paid.
He paid for his fun in the sun with a terrible sunburn.
Pay toilet.
- To earn a given right or position through hard work, long-term experience, or suffering:.She paid her dues in small-town theaters before being cast in a Broadway play.
- To contribute one's own share; pay for oneself.
- To bear the consequences of something.
- To pay excessively.
- Employed and paid by.
- To pay expenses as they arise.
- To repay.
- To retaliate upon.
- To pay (a sum of money) as a down payment, with the balance to be paid later.
- To reduce (a debt) over a period of time.
- To suffer or undergo punishment because of.
- To atone or make amends for.
- To pay all that is owed on (a debt, etc.) or to (a person, as in discharging from employment).
- To take revenge on (a wrongdoer) or for (a wrong done).
- To yield full recompense or return, for either good or evil.
- To bring about a desired result; succeed.
- To swing or allow to swing away from the wind.
- To pay someone's share of the expenses.
- To give out (money, etc.); expend.
- To let out (a rope, cable, etc.) gradually.
- To pay in full or on time.
- With wages or salary included.A two-week vacation with pay.
Idioms and Phrasal Verbs
Origin of pay
- Middle English paien from Old French paiier from Late Latin pācāre to appease from Latin to pacify, subdue from pāx pāc- peace pag- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- Obsolete French peier from Old French from Latin picāre from pix pic- pitch
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
- From Middle English payen, from Old French paier, from Medieval Latin pÄcÄre (“to settle, satisfy") from Latin pacare (“to pacify"). Displaced native Middle English yelden, yielden (“to pay") (from Old English Ä¡ieldan (“to pay")), Middle English schotten (“to pay, make payment") (from Old English scot, Ä¡escot (“payment")).
From Wiktionary
- Old French peier, from Latin picare (“to pitch").
From Wiktionary