pay

For the verb: "to pay"

Simple Past:	paid
Past Participle:	paid

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pay1

▶verb (past and past part. paid)

• 1 give (someone) money due for work, goods, or a debt incurred.

  ■ give (a sum of money) thus owed.

  ■ (pay someone off) dismiss someone with a final payment.

• 2 be profitable or advantageous.

  ■ (pay off) informal yield good results.

• 3 suffer a loss or misfortune as a consequence of an action.

  ■ give what is due or deserved to.

  ■ (pay someone back) take revenge on someone.

• 4 give (attention, respect, or a compliment) to.

  ■ make (a visit or call) to.

• 5 (pay something out) let out a rope by slackening it.

▶noun money paid to someone for work.

– phrases
in the pay of employed by.
pay dearly suffer for a misdemeanour or failure.
pay its (or one's) way earn enough to cover its or one's costs.
pay one's last respects show respect towards a dead person by attending their funeral.
pay one's respects make a polite visit to someone.
pay through the nose informal pay much more than a fair price.

– derivatives
payee noun,
payer noun.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘pacify’): from OFr. paie (n.), payer (v.), from L. pacare ‘appease’, from pax, pac- ‘peace’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
pay2

▶verb (past and past part. payed) Nautical seal (the deck or seams of a wooden ship) with pitch or tar to prevent leakage.

– origin C17: from Old North. Fr. peier, from L. picare, from pix, pic- ‘pitch’.