Forms: 4–5 waiour (= wajour), 5 wayoure, 5–6 wageour (5 -or, -oure, wagour, 7 wadger, 8 waiger), 5– wager. [a. AF. wageure (= F. gageure), f. wager WAGE v.1: see -URE. In the legal use 5, prob. in origin a distinct word, f. WAGE v. + -ER4; one of the technical nouns of action framed by lawyers in the 16th c. in imitation of Law French infinitives used subst.; the spelling wageour in quot. 1533, however, shows that it was already confused with the ordinary word.]
I. † 1. A solemn pledge or undertaking. Obs.
1306. Exec. Sir S. Fraser, in Pol. Songs (1839), 218. A wajour he made, so hit wes y-told, Ys heved of to smhyte ȝef me him brohte in hold wat so bytyde.
2. Something (esp. a sum of money) laid down and hazarded on the issue of an uncertain event; a stake. Now rare exc. in phr. to lay, win, lose a wager.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 5596. A waiour dar y wyth ȝow ley, Þat y shal haue some gode at hym.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 513/2. Wayoure, vadium, vadimonium.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 192. For a waiour I schal gon & askyn almes of Perys tollere,… þe waiour was leyde.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 227, in Babees Bk., 306. Ne waiour non with hym þou lay.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, liii. 180. As for the wager that I sholde wyn therby, I am content to relese it quyte.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. ii. 69. Hort. Content, what’s the wager? Luc. Twentie crownes.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 78. They never play at Dice, seldome at Cardes, and that for small wagers.
1682. O. Heywood, Diaries (1881), II. 295. Several Lords laid wagers which could out swear one another.
1691. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 207. They being grown so bold and insolent as to offer wagers that Cork will be out of our possession by the last of May.
1702. Lond. Post, 7–9 Sept., 2/1. Great Wagers are laid in this City, that Cadix is already in our Hands.
1722. N. Blundell, Diary (1895), 191. I layed a Waiger, and Mr. Jo. Poole held the stakes.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 6, ¶ 11. By this performance, she won her wager.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 1296. It may be proper to state in what cases an action will lie for enforcing the payment of a wager.
1817. Byron, Beppo, xxvii. Most men … Will back their own opinions with a wager.
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Black Mousquetaire, 284. The Captains and Majors Began to lay wagers How far the Ghost part of the story was true.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, vi. There was a fire last night, there are two to-night, and you may lay an even wager there will be at least one, to-morrow.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, III. 116. I won the match, and beat the dog by four minutes. The wager was five shillings, which I had.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., vii. (1878), 118. He would go down the underground stair … for the wager of a guinea.
† b. The prize to be won in a contest. Obs.
c. 1450. Brut, ccxliv. 378. For our archers … schet þat day for a wager.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, V. Prol. 10. At the begynning, the wageouris by and by, And the rewardis, in myddis of the field Befoir thair ene war sett.
1546. Langley, trans. Pol. Verg. de Invent., II. ix. 53. At the other ende was the wager sette, that they ranne for.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 246. He that giveth most Cotes or most turnes winneth the wager.
1609. Dekker, Guls Horne-bk., vii. 36. And let any hooke draw you either to a Fencers supper, or to a Players that acts such a part for a wager.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 14 April. There the girls did run for wagers over the bowling-green.
fig. a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 167. For Kyng Henry … and Richard duke of Yorke … wresteled for the game, and strove for the wager.
3. An agreement or contract under which each of the parties promises to give money or its equivalent to the other according to the issue of an uncertain event; a betting transaction.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 7. Certayn noble men made a wager to runne at the rynge.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. xiv. (1912), 93. Love and mischeefe having made a wager, which should have most power in me.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. vii. 156 (1604 Qo.). Wee’le make a solemne wager on your cunnings. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., I. iv. 181. I will fetch my Gold, and haue our two Wagers recorded.
1641. Evelyn, Diary, 4 Oct. One who, upon divers greate wagers, went to and fro betweene that Citty and Antwerp on foote.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 301. Wagers were very rife among us, who should come first to the shore of Patagonia.
1761. Burrow, Cases K. B. (1766), II. 1171. There are many Conveniences from allowing valued Policies: But where they are used merely as a Cover to a Wager, they would be considered as an Evasion.
1778. Miss Burney, Evelina (1791), II. 118. He was interrupted by a call from the company to discuss the affair of the wager.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xvii. I could venture to accept your wager, my lord,… but there is no time for foolery.
1876. Rogers, Pol. Econ., i. 9. If one man makes a wager with another, the occurrence of the event on which the wager depends, does involve loss and gain.
† b. An equal, even wager, an even chance. Obs.
1638. Chillingw., Relig. Prot., I. iv. § 57. 224. It were an even wager there were none such!
1706. Hearne, Collect., 25 March (O.H.S.), I. 209. But ’tis an even Wager whether his Book proves himself or me a schismatick.
1742. Hoyle, Whist, xviii. 84. It being an equal Wager that your Partner has a better Card in that Suit, than the last Player.
† c. To lie upon the wager: to be at stake. Obs.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. iii. 12. Full fast she fled, ne euer lookt behind, As if her life vpon the wager lay.
d. An act of putting to hazard, a risk.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xviii. IV. 220. Nothing could be more natural than that, for the very smallest chance of recovering the three kingdoms … he should be willing to stake what was not his own, the honour of the French arms … [etc.]. To a French statesman such a wager might well appear in a different light.
e. A contest for a prize.
1615. Markham, Country Contentm., I. vii. 102. If you will prepare him [a greyhound] for match and wadger.
1834. John Bull, 27 July, 238/3. Putney Regatta…. Twelve pairs of sculls were entered to compete for the prize (a purse of 20 sovereigns). It was what would be termed in the aquatic circles, a double-sculled wager, viz., two pairs in each boat.
4. Something on the issue of which bets are or may be laid; the subject of a bet or bets.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, II. vii. (1912), 193. Their ruine was the wager of the others contention.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, V. xvii. 391. But what, thinks she, if they cast Lots for mee, as for a trivial or base wager?
1678. Temple, Lett. to Hyde, Wks. 1731, II. 474. I would be glad likewise to know your Conjectures there, whether France will come to the Peace or no, without refusing any longer to evacuate the Towns, which is the present Wager current at Amsterdam.
1865. E. Burritt, Walk Land’s End, iv. 124. Every man and boy of these colored laborers was working as at a wager.
II. 5. Law (now Hist.). The action of WAGE v. (4 a, b).
a. Wager of law: an offer to make oath of innocence or non-indebtedness, to be supported by the oaths of eleven compurgators. b. Wager of battle: a challenge by a defendant to decide his guilt or innocence by single combat.
a. 1521–2. Ir. Act 13 Hen. VIII., c. 2 (1621), 73. The partie or parties defendants shall haue none essoine, protection, ne law wager.
1533. More, Debell. Salem, II. xv. 33. Lyke as in the wageour of a lawe, they shall not swere that the defendaunt oweth not the money, but that they byleue that he swereth treuth.
1536. Ir. Act 28 Hen. VIII., c. 5 (1621), 102. Wherein no wager of law, essoine ne protection shall lye.
1628. Coke, On Litt., § 514. 293 b. The like oath shall bee made in an Attaint and in battaile, and in wager of Law [Litt. en Battaile & en ley gager].
1696. Ventris, Reports (1701), 261. In this case the Court overruled the Wager of Law.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. xxii. 341. A sixth species of trial is by wager of law, vadiatio legis.
1833. Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 42 § 13. And be it further enacted, That no Wager of Law shall be hereafter allowed.
incorrect use. 1791. Burke, App. Whigs, Wks. 1808, VI. 142. In this part, his defence will not be made by argument, but by wager of law.
b. a. 1625. Sir H. Finch, Law (1636), The Table, Wager of battell shall not be by Cosins in a writ of right.
1716. W. Hawkins, Pleas Crown, II. xlv. (1726), 427. He may counterplead the Wager of Battel.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. xxii. 337. The trial by wager of battel.
1819. Act 59 Geo. III., c. 46 (title), An Act to abolish Appeals of Murder, Treason, Felony or other Offences, and Wager of Battel.
transf. 1824. Miss Mitford, Village, I. 150. Having accepted the wager of battle, our champion began forthwith to collect his forces.
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1875), III. xi. 5. When Harold and William met face to face in the great wager of battle.
III. 6. attrib. and Comb., in sense ‘done for a wager,’ as wager-fight, -shooting, -smoking; also wager-boat, a light racing sculling-boat used in contests between single scullers; wager-cup, a ‘cup’ offered as a prize in a contest; † wager-hall, ? the hall of the imaginary guild of betting men; wager-insurance = wager-policy; † wager-office, a place for recording wagers; wager-policy, an insurance-policy partaking of the nature of a wager.
1844. Alb. Smith, Adv. Mr. Ledbury, ix. (1886), 29. [He] began talking about the sweet *wager-boat which his friend … had bought at Searle’s.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., IV. i. It was an amateur sculler … in so light a boat that the Rogue remarked: ‘A little less on you, and you’d a’most ha’ been a Wagerbut.’
1878. W. J. Cripps, Old Engl. Plate, x. 292. The well-known cups, sometimes called *‘wager cups,’ in the form of a woman holding a smaller cup over her head with outstretched arms.
1826. Hor. Smith, Tor Hill, II. 283. The *wager-fight between the English and Italians was to be a combat of three and three in succession.
1691. Dryden, K. Arth., Prol. 31. Betts … [are] grown a common Trade for all, And Actions, by the News-Book, Rise and Fall; Wits, Cheats, and Fops, are free of *Wager-Hall.
1824. Benecke, Mar. Insur., 142. The statute 19 Geo. II. c. 37, by which *wager insurances have been declared illegal.
1722. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 54. One Stewart … kept a *wager-office and insurance.
1761. Burrow, Cases K. B. (1766), II. 1171. A valued Policy is not to be considered as a *Wager Policy.
1787. J. A. Park, Law Marine Insur., 294. Of Wager-Policies.
1913. M. Roberts, Salt of Sea, vi. 166. They’ll pay premiums reckless and regardless ’ow Lloyd’s runs rates up on ’em rapid when they starts wager policies on ’er.
1892. Greener, Breech-Loader, 235. The Red House ’at Battersea was … the favourite metropolitan resort for *wager shooting.
