(一般作wages)
1- a fixed regular payment, typically paid on a daily or weekly basis, made by an employer to an employee, especially to a manual or unskilled worker工资, 工钱（尤指付给体力劳动者或非熟练工人的日薪或周薪）：
we were struggling to get better wages.
我们在争取获得更高的工资。比较SALARY.
1.1
wages
Economics the part of total production that is the return to labour as earned income as distinct from the remuneration received by capital as unearned income【经济】工资总额。
1.2
- figurative the result or effect of doing something considered wrong or unwise〈喻〉报应：
disasters are the wages of sin.
灾难是罪恶的报应。
with obj.
- carry on (a war or campaign)进行, 发动（战争, 运动）：
it is necessary to destroy their capacity to wage war.
有必要摧毁他们发动战争的能力。
词源
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French and Old Northern French， of Germanic origin; related to GAGE1 and WED.