▪ I. salary, n.
(ˈsælərɪ)
Forms: α. 4 salerie, 4–6 -arye, 4, 7 sallery, 4–8 salarie, 5 saleri, selarie, -aré, celarie, -ye, 5–7 sallarie, 5–8 -ary, 6 sellary, 7 sallerey, 8 -erie, 5– salary; β. 5 sala(i)re, 6 -air.
[a. AF. salarie = OF. salaire, It. salario, Sp., Pg. salario, ad. L. salārium, orig. money allowed to Roman soldiers for the purchase of salt, hence, their pay; subst. use of neut. sing. of salārius pertaining to salt, f. sal salt.]
1. Fixed payment made periodically to a person as compensation for regular work: now usually restricted to payments made for non-manual or non-mechanical work (as opposed to wages).
From c 1390 to c 1520 commonly applied to the stipend of a priest, esp. a chantry priest.
| α 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 142 Riȝt as a seruaunt taketh his salarye bifore & sitth wolde clayme more. a 1400 Solomon's Bk. Wisdom 40 in Adam Davy, etc. 83 Chese þe a witty hyne & loue hym with al þi miȝth; Of his Salerie wiþ holde þou nouȝth. 1428 in E.E. Wills (1882) 80 And to a prest for to singe for me and all cristin soulis, competent saleri for an hole here. 1483–5 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 121 Payde to the preste, Syr Iohn plommer, for hys celarie for ij yer, xiij li vj s viij d. 1516 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 2, I will that a descritt and an honest preste have sellary to syng for my soull. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xii. 93 Phisitions..for their salarie haue euery one of them tenne aspres a day. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. Epit. (1612) 360 For competent viande and sallarie to vndergoe the defence of the Realme. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxviii. 166 Reward, is either of Gift, or by Contract. When by Contract, it is called Salary, and Wages. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 69 Are not some so taken up with the..gilded Cabbins, Lanthorns, and great Salaries which they have, that they minde little else? 1677 Seasonable Argt. Grand Juries 3 Sir Humphry Winch, Baronet, hath from the Court 500l. per annum Sallery. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. to C'tess of Bristol 10 Apr., The slaves..have no wages; but..clothes to a higher value than our salaries to any ordinary servant. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. i. ii. II. 324 Fixed salaries were appointed to the judges. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. i. iv. §2 (1876) 36 That large portion of the productive capital of a country which is employed in paying the wages and salaries of labourers. 1868 Chamb. Encycl. X. 37/1 A manager of a bank or railway—even an overseer or a clerk in a manufactory, is said to draw a salary. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxix. 43 The salary of the Prime Minister is {pstlg}5,000 per annum. |
| β 1433 Lydg. St. Edmund i. 934 The laborer neded no stuff to borwe For his salaire abood nat til the morwe. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 144 Suppos the ȝere be nocht all past, or bot begonnyn, his [sic] sall have his full feis and salare. 1563–7 Buchanan Reform. St. Andros Wks. (S.T.S.) 16 The salair of the rectour. |
† 2. a. Reward or remuneration for services rendered; fee, honorarium. Obs.
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxiv. 88 (Harl. MS.), But if þou pay now, I shal holde thi wif to wed, tyll tyme that I be paied fully my salary. c 1477 Caxton Jason 119 Shal I haue none other salaire ne none other gwerdon for all my merites? 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. iii. 79 Oh this is hyre and Sallery, not Reuenge. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 390 Their Exchanges are made vpon this imaginarie ducat of three hundreth seuentie and fiue Maluedies, to be payed in Banke, with fiue vpon the thousand, which is the sallarie of the Banker. 1641 Termes de la Ley 245 Salarie..signifies a recompence or consideration given unto any man for his paines bestowed upon another mans businesse. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §9 When I doe him [sc. my patient] no good, me thinkes it is scarce honest gaine, though I confesse 'tis but the worthy salary of our well-intended endeavours. |
b. gen. Reward, recompense. Obs.
| 1484 Caxton Fables of Poge vii, Alle the sallary or payment of them that mokken other is for to be mocqued at the last. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. ii. viii. §1 (1622) 279 Felicitie, which is the salarie and reward of Vertue, is giuen vs of God. 1684 Contempl. St. Man i. vi. (1699) 67 This is the Sallery which the Goods of the Earth bestow on those who serve them. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 406 You that have repented and are become good People, receive your Salary entring there for ever. |
3. attrib.: salary bracket, salary-earner, salary man, salary officer, salary scale; salary-fixing vbl. n.; salary grab, an opprobrious term for the act of the U.S. Congress of 1873 by which the salaries of congressmen were increased.
| 1969 L. Hellman Unfinished Woman vi. 62 We were in what was called ‘the same salary bracket’. |
| 1926 Socialist Rev. Oct. 47 A minority of salary-earners receive also unearned incomes of varying sizes. 1961 Guardian 25 Oct. 1/7 The machinery for salary-fixing in the universities is complicated. |
| 1879 A. Johnston Hist. Amer. Politics (1884) 220 The Act..was commonly known as the Salary Grab. |
| 1719 in A. McF. Davis Tracts Currency Mass. Bay (1902) 193 Salary Men, Ministers, School-Masters, [etc.]..are pincht and hurt more than any. 1962 Spectator 29 June 846/2 Expensive cameras are being crowded out as the ultimate dream of what the Japanese call ‘salarymen’. They are being replaced by a little bubble of an automobile. |
| 1816 Deb. Congress U.S. 4 Dec. (1854) 240 The only difference between a salary officer and a per diem, is simply in the mode of payment, and not in the amount. 1940 R. S. Lambert Ariel & all his Quality xi. 302 Grade and salary scales were defined, and every employee informed where he stood. |
▪ II. † ˈsalary, a.1 Obs. rare.
[? f. sale n.1 + -ary.]
Open to sale, venal, saleable.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 157 Can it be so many brothel-houses, of salary sensuality, and six-penny whoredome,..should be set vp and maintained? 1596 ― Saffron Walden To Rdr., Wks. (Grosart) III. 27 He [sc. Tetzel] that..first stird vp Luther, pronouncing from the Pope free salarie indulgence to anie man. |
▪ III. † ˈsalary, a.2 Obs.
[ad. L. salāri-us, f. sal salt: see -ary.]
Saline.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vi. xii. 338 From such salary irradiations may those wondrous varieties arise, which are observable in..Peacocks feathers. |
▪ IV. salary, v.
(ˈsælərɪ)
[Chiefly f. salary n. In early use a. F. salarier (15th c.).]
trans. To recompense, reward; to pay for something done (Obs. or arch.); to pay a regular salary to.
| c 1477 Caxton Jason 128 How..shall I be salaryed of suche payement in the recompensacion of the saluacion of your lyf? 1637 J. Williams Holy Table 46, I am not salaried to defend the Writer of the Letter. 1659 Heylin Exam. Hist. i. 210 They..salared some Lectures in such Market Towns where the people had commonly lesse to do. 1814 D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. I. 218 He [sc. Cibber] knew he was no poet, yet he would string wretched rhimes, even when not salaried for them. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 290 The seven Judges of the Supreme Court are salaried with the same moderation as other members of the federal government. 1865 Lecky Ration. II. 375 For the great majority of nations agriculture is the single source of wealth; all manufactures are ultimately salaried by it. 1872 Liddon Elem. Relig. ii. 69 The good man..is often unhappy, while vice is not unfrequently salaried and crowned with rewards. 1893 G. Travers Mona Maclean III. 198 The Chinese system—salary the doctor and stop his pay when you get ill. |