noun
definition
Money given in return for work; salary or wages.
example
Many employers have rules designed to keep employees from comparing their pays.
verb
definition
To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
example
he paid her off the books and in kind where possible
definition
To discharge, as a debt or other obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required.
example
he has paid his debt to society
definition
To be profitable for.
example
It didn't pay him to keep the store open any more.
definition
To give (something else than money).
example
to pay attention
definition
To be profitable or worth the effort.
example
crime doesn’t pay
definition
To discharge an obligation or debt.
example
He was allowed to go as soon as he paid.
definition
To suffer consequences.
example
He paid for his fun in the sun with a terrible sunburn.
definition
To admit that a joke, punchline, etc., was funny.
example
I'll pay that.
adjective
definition
Operable or accessible on deposit of coins.
example
pay toilet
definition
Pertaining to or requiring payment.
Examples of pay in a Sentence
How much would you pay for that pan today?
How much did Dad pay you?
She's working at the hospital to pay for her education.
It was a risk that didn't pay off.
A curse on you who disrupt the master's plans; you will pay dearly when the time of reckoning finally arrives!
That's what you pay me to do.
Brennan offered to pay us but we collectively agreed to not become wards of the government.
Then he ordered his treasurer to pay the poet five hundred pieces of gold; for, indeed, the poem which he had recited was wonderfully fine.
What does it pay and what are the hours?
I don't know what kind of wages you draw here, but I'd be willing to pay you a hundred a week plus room and board.
When we reached the shop, I asked her how much she would pay for Nancy's hat.
I think a few days cleaning in the stable would pay for it.
I could be a room mate – help you with the bills and pay rent.
You shall pay for this, said the Frenchman, letting go of him.
I pay you to take care of the house while I'm out working.
I'll even pay for luggage.
Black diamonds indicate the same level of quality, but the property does not pay a licensing fee.
I set both similar to my New Hampshire test but frankly; I didn't pay much attention to precise accuracy.
You made her pay up?
Did he think she expected him to pay for her wedding?
In 1623 Ralph Salvin tried to regain the manor of Doncaster from the mayor and burgesses, who, fearing that the case would go against them, agreed to pay about £3000, in return for which he gave up his claim to all the manors in the soke.
In 1897 all shipowners engaging in the coasting trade of the colony were compelled to pay the colonial rate of wages.
He reduced the army, cut down the soldiers' pay, failed to keep up the supply of war material, and neglected the frontier fortresses at a time when the Seljuk Turks were pressing hard upon the eastern portion of the empire.
The pay of the army is apt to be irregular.
She answered promptly, "I will pay ten cents."
The rest pay an annual tax for this outside garment of all, become indispensable summer and winter, which would buy a village of Indian wigwams, but now helps to keep them poor as long as they live.
But, unfortunately, another man saw fit to pay it.
It is for no particular item in the tax-bill that I refuse to pay it.
On that day I always go to pay my devotions to the relics of Prince Nicholas Bolkonski.
His father announced to him that he would now pay half his debts for the last time, but only on condition that he went to Moscow as adjutant to the commander-in-chief--a post his father had procured for him--and would at last try to make a good match there.
In Petersburg and in the provinces at a distance from Moscow, ladies, and gentlemen in militia uniforms, wept for Russia and its ancient capital and talked of self-sacrifice and so on; but in the army which retired beyond Moscow there was little talk or thought of Moscow, and when they caught sight of its burned ruins no one swore to be avenged on the French, but they thought about their next pay, their next quarters, of Matreshka the vivandiere, and like matters.
The balance of trade is always against India, because she is a debtor country, and has to pay interest on borrowed capital, and the " home charges " for the upkeep of the civil and military services and of the secretary of state's establishment in London.
Of this total about 92 millions are for interest on railways and other public works, 5 millions for pensions and furlough pay for civil and military officers, 22 millions for stores and 12 millions miscellaneous.
The total length of line is about 69,000 m., and the net profits of the service approximately pay for new new expenditure on capital account.
With regard to the land revenue, the essence of his procedure was to fix the amount which the cultivators should pay at one-third of the gross produce, leaving it to their option to pay in money or in kind.
Despite the united resistance of the civil servants, and an actual mutiny of two hundred military officers, Clive carried through his reforms. Both private trade and the receipt of presents were absolutely prohibited for the future, while a substantial increase of pay was provided out of the monopoly of salt.
He agreed to yield one-half of his dominions to be divided among the allies, and to pay three millions sterling towards the cost of the war.
He founded the public works department, to pay special attention to roads and canals.
His public life had made him more of a figure in the world; he was decorated with the highest honours Harvard could pay officially, and with degrees of Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Edinburgh and Bologna.
One cannot but pay a passing tribute of admiration to the men who, with such troublesome tools, achieved such results.
Spanish rule on the whole was oppressive and tyrannical, and based solely on the idea that the dependencies must pay tribute to the dominant kingdom.
In the last-mentioned capacity he highly distinguished himself by the manner in which he gave effect to the difficult measure of disbanding the French corps in the pay of the nizam.
Citizens were allowed a free market; foreigners and metics had to pay a toll.
After his return to Rome, he heartily supported the attempt to secure his brother's recall from exile, and was nearly murdered by gladiators in the pay of P. Clodius Pulcher.
The Bedouins were willing enough to pray, indeed, but less willing to pay taxes; their defection, as might have been expected, was a political movement.
They were forbidden to acquire landed estates in the conquered countries; all land was either made state property or was restored to the old owners subject to a perpetual tribute which provided pay on a splendid scale for the army.
He concluded with the Greeks a treaty, by which he pledged himself to pay a large sum of money annually on condition that the emperor should give him hostages as a pledge for the maintenance of peace.
Moawiya imprisoned him and let him pay a high ransom, the law not permitting the talio against a Moslem for having killed a Christian.
If one of these adopted Islam, Omar permitted him to leave his place, which had been strictly forbidden by I.Iajjaj in Irak and the eastern provinces, because by it many hands were withdrawn from the tilling of the ground, and those who remained were unable to pay the allotted amount.
But `Adi was too scrupulous to employ the public money for raising the pay of his soldiers, whilst Yazid promised mountains of gold.