Adjacent Words

Wager definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WAGER, n.
1. Something deposited, laid or hazarded on the event of a contest or some unsettled question; a bet.
Besides these plates for horseraces, the wagers may be as the persons please.
If any atheist can stake his soul for a wager against such an inexhaustible disproportion
2. Subject on which bets are laid.
3. In law, an offer to make oath of innocence or nonindebtedness; or the act of making oath, together with the oaths of eleven compurgators, to fortify the defendents oath.
Wager of battle, is when the tenant in a writ of right, offers to prove his right by the body of his champion, and throwing down his glove as a gage or pledge, thus wages or stipulates battle with the champion or demandant, who by taking up the glove, accepts the challenge. The champions, armed with batons enter the list, and taking each other by the hand, each swears to the justice of the cause of the party for whom he appears; they then fight till the stars appear, and if the champion of the tenant can defend himself till that time, his cause prevails.
WAGER, v.t. To lay; to bet; to hazard on the issue of a contest; or on some question that is to be decided, or on some casualty.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of gambling; "he did it on a bet" [syn: bet, wager]
2: the money risked on a gamble [syn: stake, stakes, bet, wager] v
1: stake on the outcome of an issue; "I bet $100 on that new horse"; "She played all her money on the dark horse" [syn: bet, wager, play]
2: maintain with or as if with a bet; "I bet she will be there!" [syn: bet, wager]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English wageour pledge, bet, from Anglo-French wageure, from *wager Date: 14th century 1. a. something (as a sum of money) risked on an uncertain event ; stake b. something on which bets are laid ; gamble <do a stunt as a wager> 2. archaic an act of giving a pledge to take and abide by the result of some action II. verb (wagered; wagering) Date: 1602 intransitive verb to make a bet transitive verb to risk or venture on a final outcome; specifically to lay as a gamble ; bet <wager $5 on a horse> • wagerer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v.tr. & intr. = BET. Phrases and idioms: wager of battle hist. an ancient form of trial by personal combat between the parties or their champions. wager of law hist. a form of trial in which the defendant was required to produce witnesses who would swear to his or her innocence. Etymology: ME f. AF wageure f. wager (as WAGE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wager Wa"ger, n. [OE. wager, wajour, OF. wagiere, or wageure, E. gageure. See Wage, v. t.] 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. Note: 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 (called compurgators), who should avow upon their oaths that they believed in their consciences that he spoke the truth. Wager policy. (Insurance Law) See under Policy.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wager Wa"ger, v. i. To make a bet; to lay a wager. 'T was merry when You wagered on your angling. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wager Wa"ger, n. Wagering, or gambling, contract. A contract which is of the nature of wager. Contracts of this nature include various common forms of valid commercial contracts, as contracts of insurance, contracts dealing in futures, options, etc. Other wagering contracts and bets are now generally made illegal by statute against betting and gambling, and wagering has in many cases been made a criminal offence. Wages Wa"ges, n. pl. (Theoretical Economics) The share of the annual product or national dividend which goes as a reward to labor, as distinct from the remuneration received by capital in its various forms. This economic or technical sense of the word wages is broader than the current sense, and includes not only amounts actually paid to laborers, but the remuneration obtained by those who sell the products of their own work, and the wages of superintendence or management, which are earned by skill in directing the work of others.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wagers, wagering, wagered) 1. If you wager on the result of a horse race, football match, or other event, you give someone a sum of money which they give you back with extra money if the result is what you predicted, or which they keep if it is not. (JOURNALISM) Just because people wagered on the Yankees did not mean that they liked them... Golfers had wagered a good deal of money on Nick Faldo winning the championship. = bet, gamble VERB: V on n, V n on n • Wager is also a noun. There have been various wagers on certain candidates since the Bishop announced his retirement. N-COUNT 2. If you say that you will wager that something is the case, you mean you are confident that it is the case. She was willing to wager that he didn't own the apartment he lived in... = bet VERB: V that

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Bet, stake, pledge. II. v. a. Bet, stake, pledge, lay, wage. III. v. n. Bet, lay a wager.

Moby Thesaurus

adventure, ante, ante up, back, bet, bet on, blind bargain, book, borderline case, call, chance, chance it, chunk, contingency, cover, double contingency, fade, gamble, gamble on, game, guess, handbook, hazard, lay, lay a wager, lay down, make a bet, meet a bet, open question, parlay, pass, piece of guesswork, play, play against, plunge, pot, punt, put on, question, rely on fortune, risk, run a chance, run the risk, see, set, set at hazard, shot, sight-unseen transaction, stake, stand pat, take a chance, take a flier, take chances, tempt fortune, toss-up, touch and go, trust to chance, try the chance, undecided issue, venture