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1. Something deposited, laid, or hazarded on the event of a contest or an unsettled question; a bet; a
stake; a pledge.
Besides these plates for horse races, the wagers may be as the persons please. Sir W. Temple.
If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager against such an inexhaustible disproportion, let him never
hereafter accuse others of credulity. Bentley. 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.
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.
3. That on which bets are laid; the subject of a bet.
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 who should avow upon their
oaths that they believed in their consciences that he spoke the truth. — Wager policy. (Insurance
Law) See under Policy.
Wager
(Wa"ger), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wagered ; p. pr. & vb. n. Wagering.] To hazard on the issue
of a contest, or on some question that is to be decided, or on some casualty; to lay; to stake; to bet.
And wagered with him
Pieces of gold 'gainst this which he wore. Shak. Wager
(Wa"ger), v. i. To make a bet; to lay a wager.
'T was merry when
You wagered on your angling. Shak. Wagerer
(Wa"ger*er) n. One who wagers, or lays a bet.
Wagering
(Wa"ger*ing), a. Hazarding; pertaining to the act of one who wagers.
Wagering policy. (Com.) See Wager policy, under Policy.
Wages
(Wa"ges) n. plural in termination, but singular in signification. [Plural of wage; cf. F. gages,
pl., wages, hire. See Wage, n.] 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
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