Pay v. i. To give a recompense; to make payment, requital, or satisfaction; to discharge a debt.
    The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.   --Ps. xxxvii. 21.
 2. Hence, to make or secure suitable return for expense or trouble; to be remunerative or profitable; to be worth the effort or pains required; as, it will pay to ride; it will pay to wait; politeness always pays.
 To pay for. (a) To make amends for; to atone for; as, men often pay for their mistakes with loss of property or reputation, sometimes with life. (b) To give an equivalent for; to bear the expense of; to be mulcted on account of.
    'T was I paid for your sleeps; I watched your wakings.   --Beau. & Fl.
 -- To pay off. [Etymol. uncertain.] (a) Naut. To fall to leeward, as the head of a vessel under sail. (b) to repay (a debt).
 To pay on. [Etymol. uncertain.] To beat with vigor; to redouble blows. [Colloq.]
 To pay round [Etymol. uncertain.] Naut. To turn the ship's head.