1. To pledge; to hazard on the event of a contest; to stake; to bet, to lay; to wager; as, to wage a dollar. Hakluyt. [ 1913 Webster ]

My life I never but as a pawn
To wage against thy enemies. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To expose one's self to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard. “Too weak to wage an instant trial with the king.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To wake and wage a danger profitless. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To engage in, as a contest, as if by previous gage or pledge; to carry on, as a war. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ He pondered ] which of all his sons was fit
To reign and wage immortal war with wit. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

The two are waging war, and the one triumphs by the destruction of the other. I. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out. [ Obs. ] “Thou . . . must wage thy works for wealth.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To put upon wages; to hire; to employ; to pay wages to. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Abundance of treasure which he had in store, wherewith he might wage soldiers. Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

I would have them waged for their labor. Latimer. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (O. Eng. Law) To give security for the performance of. Burrill. [ 1913 Webster ]

To wage battle (O. Eng. Law), to give gage, or security, for joining in the duellum, or combat. See Wager of battel, under Wager, n. Burrill. --
To wage one's law (Law), to give security to make one's law. See Wager of law, under Wager, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. That which is staked or ventured; that for which one incurs risk or danger; prize; gage. [ Obs. ] “That warlike wage.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That for which one labors; meed; reward; stipulated payment for service performed; hire; pay; compensation; -- at present generally used in the plural. See Wages. “My day's wage.” Sir W. Scott. “At least I earned my wage.” Thackeray. “Pay them a wage in advance.” J. Morley. “The wages of virtue.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

By Tom Thumb, a fairy page,
He sent it, and doth him engage,
By promise of a mighty wage,
It secretly to carry. Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our praises are our wages. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Existing legislation on the subject of wages. Encyc. Brit. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Wage is used adjectively and as the first part of compounds which are usually self-explaining; as, wage worker, or wage-worker; wage-earner, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Board wages. See under 1st Board. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Hire; reward; stipend; salary; allowance; pay; compensation; remuneration; fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

'T was merry when
You wagered on your angling. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Something deposited, laid, or hazarded on the event of a contest or an unsettled question; a bet; a stake; a pledge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Besides these plates for horse races, the wagers may be as the persons please. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager against such an inexhaustible disproportion, let him never hereafter accuse others of credulity. Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) A contract by which two parties or more agree that a certain sum of money, or other thing, shall be paid or delivered to one of them, on the happening or not happening of an uncertain event. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ At common law a wager is considered as a legal contract which the courts must enforce unless it be on a subject contrary to public policy, or immoral, or tending to the detriment of the public, or affecting the interest, feelings, or character of a third person. In many of the United States an action can not be sustained upon any wager or bet. Chitty. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That on which bets are laid; the subject of a bet. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wager of battel, or
Wager of battle (O. Eng. Law), the giving of gage, or pledge, for trying a cause by single combat, formerly allowed in military, criminal, and civil causes. In writs of right, where the trial was by champions, the tenant produced his champion, who, by throwing down his glove as a gage, thus waged, or stipulated, battle with the champion of the demandant, who, by taking up the glove, accepted the challenge. The wager of battel, which has been long in disuse, was abolished in England in 1819, by a statute passed in consequence of a defendant's having waged his battle in a case which arose about that period. See Battel. --
Wager of law (Law), the giving of gage, or sureties, by a defendant in an action of debt, that at a certain day assigned he would take a law, or oath, in open court, that he did not owe the debt, and at the same time bring with him eleven neighbors (called compurgators), who should avow upon their oaths that they believed in their consciences that he spoke the truth. --
Wager policy. (Insurance Law) See under Policy. --
Wagering contract or
gambling contract. A contract which is of the nature of wager. Contracts of this nature include various common forms of valid commercial contracts, as contracts of insurance, contracts dealing in futures, options, etc. Other wagering contracts and bets are now generally made illegal by statute against betting and gambling, and wagering has in many cases been made a criminal offence. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And wagered with him
Pieces of gold 'gainst this which he wore. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wagering policy. (Com.) See Wager policy, under Policy. [ 1913 Webster ]