Category:Wages

Wa"ges, n. plural in termination, but singular in signification. Etym: [plural of wage; cf. F. gages, pl., wages, hire. See wage, n.]

Defn: a compensation given to a hired person for services; price paid For labor; recompense; hire. See wage, n., 2. The wages of sin is death. Rom. vi. 23. Wages fund (polit. Econ.), the aggregate capital existing at any time In any country, which theoretically is unconditionally destined to be Paid out in wages. It was formerly held, by mill and other political Economists, that the average rate of wages in any country at any time Depended upon the relation of the wages fund to the number of Laborers. This theory has been greatly modified by the discovery of Other conditions affecting wages, which it does not take into Account. Encyc. Brit.

Syn. -- see under wage, n.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Wages - Rate of (mention only in Matthew 20:2); to be punctually paid (Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14, Deuteronomy 24:15); judgments threatened against the withholding of (Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 3:5; compare James 5:4); paid in money (Matthew 20:1); to Jacob in kind (Genesis 29:15, Genesis 29:20; Genesis 30:28; Genesis 31:7, Genesis 31:8, Genesis 31:41).