gage

Definition

To bind (someone) by pledge or security; to engage.

Etymology

From Middle English gage, from later Old French or early Middle French gager (verb), (also guagier in Old French) gage (noun), ultimately from Frankish *waddi, from Proto-Germanic *wadją (whence English wed). Doublet of wage, from the same origin through the Old Northern French variant wage. See also mortgage.

Example Sentences

• "Great debts / Wherein my time, sometimes too prodigal, / Hath left me gaged."
• "O doe not goe, this feaſt (I'le gage my life) / Is but a plot to trayne you to your ruine, / Be rul'd, you ſha'not goe."
• "A moiety competent / Was gaged by our king."