▪ I. reˈpay, n. Now rare or Obs.
[f. next.]
Repayment, return.
| 1593 Norden Spec. Brit., M'sex 1 Accept..my willing indeuor, vntill time afforde ablenes to make better repay. 1753 Young Brothers i. i, They measure blood by drops And bail not one in the repay. a 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 25 He wha deals in scandal only gains A rich repay of scandal for his pains. |
▪ II. repay, v.1
(rɪˈpeɪ)
[ad. OF. repaier, rapaier, f. re- re- + payer to pay.]
1. trans. To refund, pay back (a sum of money, etc.). Also with double object.
| 1530 Palsgr. 686/1 What so ever you lay out it shalbe repayed you. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 74 They require him to repaie the kinge of England his money. 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 288 No meede but he repayes Seuen-fold aboue it selfe. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 401 At the end of the War, whatever was disbursed, should be repaid. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 364 Human life Is but a loan to be repaid with use. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 104 It was agreed, that if A. repaid 1000l., &c. borrowed of B.,..then B. should reconvey to him. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 319 Money can be repaid; Not kindness such as yours. |
b. To return (a blow, visit, salutation, etc.).
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 3, Strokes receiu'd, and many blowes repaid, Haue robb'd my strong knit sinewes of their strength. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 233 According to the Custom of Repaying the Visits of a Person of Quality. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. V. 211 He..received and repaid the salutations of the patriarchs. |
c. To give (a thing) in return or recompense (for something).
| 1560 Bible (Genev.) Ecclus. xii. 6 The moste High..will repay vengeance vnto the vngodlie. 1611 Bible Prov. xiii. 21 Euill pursueth sinners: but to the righteous, good shall be repayd. 1720 Pope Iliad xvii. 38 Come, for my brother's blood repay thy own. 1818 Shelley Eug. Hills 190 What though thou with all thy dead Scarce can for this fame repay Aught thine own. |
† d. To avenge (a thing) on a person. Obs. rare—1.
| 1753 Young Brothers i. i, Now her eyes repay Her brother's wounds on Philip's rival sons. |
2. To make repayment or return to (a person); to pay (one) back in some way.
| a 1542 Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 71, I was content thy seruant to remain; And not to be repayed after this fashion. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. i. 40 Let me now you pray,..Ye will me now with like good turne repay. 1661 Boyle Style of Script. (1675) 85, I could readily retaliate, and repay them in the same coin. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. viii. 82 We should be amply repayed for all our past sufferings. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest x, I will repay you for your kindness. 1827 Lytton Pelham ii, He was repaid as such by a pretty general dislike. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 309 When Enoch comes again Why then he shall repay me. |
3. To make return or recompense for, requite (an action, etc.): a. of persons. Also const. with (or by) and in pass. without expressed agent.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 45 The poorest seruice is repaide with thankes. 1611 Bible Job xxi. 31 Who shall repay him what he hath done? 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 178 Spite then with spite is best repaid. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 198 Haply too some pilgrim, thither led, With many a tale repays the nightly bed. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, [She] repaid the fondness of a mother with the affection of a daughter. 1835 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. xxxvii. 513 She repayed her physic by the stone which is used in striking fire. 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. ix. 1312 Repaying incredulity with faith. |
b. of things. Also in pass.
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God xi. xxiii. (1620) 406 That we might know that the spirits merits are not repaid by the bodies qualities. 1781 Cowper Hope 771 The abundant harvest, recompense divine, Repays their work. 1809 Campbell Gertr. Wyom. i. xi, Her lovely mind could culture well repay. 1860 Tyndall Glac. ii. xxix. 399 A series of..considerations which I think will repay the reader's attention. 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle L. viii. 223 But the view from the summit repays all the toil. |
| refl. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Drill-rake 3 A 3/2 Yet even this small work of supererogation repays itself. 1872 Morley Voltaire (1886) 10 The sacrifice may repay itself a thousand fold. |
4. intr. To make repayment or return.
| 1557 N. T. (Genev.) Rom. xii. 19 Vengeance is mine: I wil repaye, saith the Lord. 1611 Bible Ecclus. iv. 31 Let not thine hand bee stretched out to receiue, and shut when thou shouldest repay. 1865 Lowell Harvard Commem. Ode viii, 'Tis not the grapes of Canaan that repay, But the high faith that failed not by the way. |
Hence reˈpaying ppl. a.; also reˈpayal, repayment; reˈpayer, one who repays.
| 1650 T. Hubbert Pill Formality 240 God is..a repaier of the wicked. 1881 Mayne Reid Free Lances I. xiii. 139 There could be no mistaking what he meant. Anything but a repayal of friendly services. 1883 Century Mag. Oct. 814/1 It is..probably a more repaying industry than orange-growing. 1888 Stevenson Black Arrow 50, I am a good repayer, Jack, of good or evil. |
▪ III. repay, v.2
(riːˈpeɪ)
[re- 5 a.]
To pay again, or a second time (Ogilvie Suppl. 1855).