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ducting, or reducing; to abate; to beat down; to lower. He must either bate the laborer's wages, or not employ or not pay him. Locke.

A single combat; as, trial by battel. See Wager of battel, under Wager.

, upon the event of a contest or any contingent issue; the act of giving such a pledge; a wager. "Having made his bets." Goldsmith.

One who bets or lays a wager.

A slave; one who is bound to service without wages. If thy brother . . . be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond servant: but as an hired servant. Lev. xxv. 39, 40.

The condition of a bond servant; sevice without wages; slavery. Their children . . . upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service. 1 Kings ix. 21.

A female slave, or one bound to service without wages, as distinguished from a hired servant.

A man slave, or one bound to service without wages. "To enfranchise bondmen." Macaulay.

A swage or die used for shaping metals.

, formed from a sheet by punching; a small washer put on the end of a rivet before it is swaged down.

, with the two ends perforated to receive a pin, used on the end of the tongue of a plow, wagen, etc., to attach it to a draft chain, whiffletree, etc.; -- called also clavel, clevy.

actice of justifying or confirming a man's veracity by the oath of others; -- called also wager of law. See Purgation; also Wager of law, under Wager.

ho bears testimony or swears to the veracity or innocence of another. See Purgation; also Wager of law, under Wager. All they who know me . . . will say they have reason in this matter to be my compurgators. Chillingworth.

of Job, in conduct and diction. Macaulay. Conduct money (Naut.), a portion of a seaman's wages retained till the end of his engagement, and paid over only if his conduct has been satisfactory.

Of or from, or pertaining to, a convent. "Conventical wages." Sterne. Conventical prior. See Prior.

That which is given beyond what is actually due, as a garland of flowers in addition to wages; surplus; something added or superfluous. [Obs.] Now come, my Ariel; bring a corollary, Rather than want a spirit. Shak.

piculæ are sometimes used in medicine as a mechanical vermifuge. [Written also couhage, cowage, and cowitch.]

ed by the recurrence of something peculiar; as, the cucle of the seasons, or of the year. Wages . . . bear a full proportion . . . to the medium of provision during the last bad cycle of twenty years. Burke.

Hard to suit; difficult to please. [Obs.] My wages ben full strait, and eke full small; My lord to me is hard and dangerous. Chaucer.

exactly equal, so that neither wins. -- Dead horse, an expression applied to a debt for wages paid in advance. [Law] -- Dead language, a language which is no longer spoken or in common use by a people, and is known only in writings, as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. -- Dead letter. (a) A letter which, after lying for…