pay

pay
\ \ [12] Etymologically, to pay someone is to ‘quieten them down by giving them the money they are owed’. For the word is closely related to English peace. It comes via Old French payer from Latin pācārepacify’, a derivative of pāxpeace’. The notion of the irate creditor needing to be appeased by payment led to the verb being used in medieval Latin for ‘pay’. The original sense ‘pacify, please’ actually survived into English (‘Well he weened with this tiding for to pay David the king’, Cursor Mundi 1300), but by the beginning of the 16th century it had virtually died out, leaving ‘give money’ in sole possession.
\ \ Cf.PACT, PEACE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • pay — pay1 [pā] vt. paid or [Obs.] (except in phrase PAY OUT, sense 2)Obs. payed, paying [ME paien, to pay, satisfy < OFr paier < L pacare, to pacify < pax,PEACE] 1. to give to (a person) what is due, as for goods received, services rendered,… …   English World dictionary

  • Pay — Pay, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Paid}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Paying}.] [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,… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • pay — ► VERB (past and past part. paid) 1) give (someone) money due for work, goods, or an outstanding debt. 2) give (a sum of money) thus owed. 3) be profitable or advantageous: crime doesn t pay. 4) suffer a loss or misfortune as a consequence of an… …   English terms dictionary

  • pay# — pay vb Pay, compensate, remunerate, satisfy, reimburse, indemnify, repay, recompense are comparable when they mean to give money or an equivalent in return for something. Pay is the ordinary term when the giving or furnishing of money to… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Pay — Pay, n. 1. Satisfaction; content. Chaucer. [1913 Webster] 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • pay TV — pay television or pay TV noun Satellite or cable television available to subscribers • • • Main Entry: ↑pay * * * pay TV UK US noun [uncountable] a system in which you pay to watch particular television programmes or channels Thesaurus: systems… …   Useful english dictionary

  • pay — [n] earnings from employment allowance, bacon*, bread*, commission, compensation, consideration, defrayment, emoluments, fee, hire*, honorarium, income, indemnity, meed, payment, perquisite, pittance, proceeds, profit, reckoning, recompensation,… …   New thesaurus

  • Pay-TV — (von englisch Pay television), auch Bezahlfernsehen genannt,[1] bezeichnet private Fernsehsender, für deren Empfang mit dem Programmanbieter ein kostenpflichtiger Vertrag abgeschlossen werden muss, unabhängig von den in Deutschland… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Pay — (p[=a]), v. i. To give a recompense; to make payment, requital, or satisfaction; to discharge a debt. [1913 Webster] The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again. Ps. xxxvii. 21. [1913 Webster] 2. Hence, to make or secure suitable return for… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • pay TV — ˌpay TˈV noun [uncountable] COMMERCE a system in which customers pay for the length of time they watch a particular television programme or channel: • Pay TV will be delivered on at least four channels. • Time Warner dominates the pay TV market… …   Financial and business terms

  • pay up — {v.} To pay in full; pay the amount of; pay what is owed. * /The monthly installments on the car were paid up./ * /He pays his dues up promptly./ * /He gets behind when he is out of work but always pays up when he is working again./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

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