pay

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To give money to in return for goods or services rendered: pay the cashier.
2. v. To give (money) in exchange for goods or services: paid four dollars for a hamburger; paid an hourly wage.
3. v. To discharge or settle (a debt or obligation): paying taxes; paid the bill.
4. v. To give recompense for; requite: a kindness that cannot be paid back.
5. v. To give recompense to; reward or punish: I'll pay him back for his insults.
6. v. To bear (a cost or penalty, for example) in recompense: She paid the price for her unpopular opinions.
7. v. To yield as a return: a savings plan that paid six percent interest.
8. v. To afford an advantage to; profit: It paid us to be generous.
9. v. To give or bestow: paying compliments; paying attention.
10. v. To make (a visit or call).
11. v. To let out (a line or cable) by slackening.
12. v. To give money in exchange for goods or services.
13. v. To discharge a debt or obligation.
14. v. To bear a cost or penalty in recompense: You'll pay for this mischief!
15. v. To be profitable or worthwhile: It doesn't pay to get angry.
16. adj. Of, relating to, giving, or receiving payments.
17. adj. Requiring payment to use or operate: a pay toilet.
18. adj. Yielding valuable metal in mining: a pay streak.
19. n. The act of paying or state of being paid.
20. n. Money given in return for work done; salary; wages.
21. n. Recompense or reward: Your thanks are pay enough.
22. n. Retribution or punishment.
23. n. Paid employment: the workers in our pay.
24. n. A person considered with regard to his or her credit or reliability in discharging debts.
25. pay off To pay the full amount on (a debt).
26. pay off To effect profit: a bet that paid off poorly.
27. pay off To get revenge for or on; requite.
28. pay off To pay the wages due to (an employee) upon discharge.
29. pay off Informal To bribe.
30. pay off Nautical To turn or cause to turn (a vessel) to leeward.
31. pay out To give (money) out; spend.
32. pay out To let out (a line or rope) by slackening.
33. pay up To give over the full monetary amount demanded.
34. idiom. pay (one's) dues 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.
35. idiom. pay (one's) way To contribute one's own share; pay for oneself.
36. idiom. pay the piper To bear the consequences of something.
37. idiom. pay through the nose Informal To pay excessively.
38. v. To coat or cover (seams of a ship, for example) with waterproof material such as tar or asphalt.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To appease; satisfy; content; please.
2. To make satisfaction or amends for.
3. To satisfy the claims of; compensate, as for goods, etc., supplied, or for services rendered; recompense; requite; remunerate; reward: as, to pay workmen or servants; to pay one's creditors.
4. To discharge, as a debt or an obligation, by giving or doing that which is due: as, to pay taxes; to pay vows.
5. To bear; defray: as, who will pay the cost? hence, to defray the expense of: as, to pay one's way in the world.
6. To give; deliver; hand over as in discharge of a debt: as, to pay money; to pay the price.
7. To give or render, without any sense of obligation: as, to pay attention; to pay court to a woman; to pay a compliment.
8. Figuratively, to requite with what is deserved; hence, to punish; chastise; castigate: still in colloquial use.
9. To be remunerative to; be advantageous or profitable to; repay.
10. Nautical, to cause to fall to leeward, as the head of a ship.
11. To make payment or requital; meet one's debts or obligations: as, he pays well or promptly.
12. To yield a suitable return or reward, as for outlay, expense, or trouble; be remunerative, profitable, or advantageous: as, litigation does not pay.
13. To give equal value for; bear the charge or cost of; give in exchange for.
14. n. Satisfaction; content; liking; pleasure.
15. n. Compensation given for services performed; salary or wages; stipend; recompense; hire: as, a soldier's pay and allowances; the men demanded higher pay.
16. n. Pay-day.
17. n. Synonyms Wages, etc. See salary.
18. Nautical, to coat or cover with tar or pitch, or with a composition of tar, resin, turpentine, tallow, and the like: as, to pay a seam or a rope.
19. n. In gold-mining, sufficient metal in a vein or bed to pay for working it.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services.
2. v. transitive To discharge, as a debt or other obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required.
3. v. transitive To discharge a debt by delivering (money owed).
4. v. transitive To be profitable for.
5. v. transitive To give (something else than money).
6. v. intransitive To be profitable.
7. v. intransitive To discharge an obligation or debt.
8. v. intransitive To suffer consequences.
9. n. Money given in return for work; salary or wages.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. (Naut.) To cover, as bottom of a vessel, a seam, a spar, etc., with tar or pitch, or waterproof composition of tallow, resin, etc.; to smear.
2. v. To satisfy, or content; specifically, to satisfy (another person) for service rendered, property delivered, etc.; to discharge one's obligation to; to make due return to; to compensate; to remunerate; to recompense; to requite.
3. v. Hence, figuratively: To compensate justly; to requite according to merit; to reward; to punish; to retort or retaliate upon.
4. v. To discharge, as a debt, demand, or obligation, by giving or doing what is due or required; to deliver the amount or value of to the person to whom it is owing; to discharge a debt by delivering (money owed).
5. v. To discharge or fulfill, as a duy; to perform or render duty, as that which has been promised.
6. v. To give or offer, without an implied obligation
7. v. To give a recompense; to make payment, requital, or satisfaction; to discharge a debt.
8. v. Hence, to make or secure suitable return for expense or trouble; to be remunerative or profitable; to be worth the effort or pains required
9. n. Satisfaction; content.
10. n. An equivalent or return for money due, goods purchased, or services performed; salary or wages for work or service; compensation; recompense; payment; hire.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. do or give something to somebody in return
2. v. give money, usually in exchange for goods or services
3. n. something that remunerates
4. v. bring in
5. v. render.
6. v. dedicate.
7. v. discharge or settle
8. v. cancel or discharge a debt
9. v. convey, as of a compliment, regards, attention, etc.; bestow.
10. v. be worth it
11. v. make a compensation for
12. v. bear (a cost or penalty), in recompense for some action