waging

Verb

wage (third-person singular simple present wages, present participle waging, simple past and past participle waged)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To wager, bet.
   • My life I never held but as a pawn / To wage against thine enemiesc. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
2. (obsolete, transitive) To expose oneself to, as a risk; to incur, as a danger; to venture; to hazard.
   • I fear the power of Percy is too weak / To wage an instant trial with the King.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
3. (obsolete, transitive) To employ for wages; to hire.
   • Thenne said Arthur I wille goo with yow / Nay said the kynges ye shalle not at this tyme / for ye haue moche to doo yet in these landes / therfore we wille departe / and with the grete goodes that we haue goten in these landes by youre yeftes we shalle wage good knyghtes & withstande the kynge...1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xviij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book I
4. (transitive) To conduct or carry out (a war or other contest).
   • pond'ring which of all his Sons was fit / To Reign, and wage immortal War with Wit1709, John Dryden, Mac Flecknoe
5. (transitive) To adventure, or lay out, for hire or reward; to hire out.
   • Thou that doest liue in later times, must wage / Thy workes for wealth, and life for gold engage.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 18
6. (UK, obsolete) To give security for the performance of.

See all 7 meanings of wage