pay-roll
Definition
- Noun:
- List of employees receiving wages: "pay-roll" refers to a list of employees and the amount of money each is to be paid for a specific period.
- Total amount of wages paid: "pay-roll" also denotes the total sum of money paid to employees by an organization over a given period.
- The department responsible for wages: In a business context, "pay-roll" can mean the department or function that calculates and distributes wages.
Usage Examples
- (A list of employees and their wages.)
- (The total amount of wages paid.)
- (The department responsible for wages.)
Advanced Usage
"to be on the pay-roll": to be employed by a company and receive wages.
- He has been on the pay-roll for ten years. (He has been a paid employee for a decade.)
"off the pay-roll": no longer employed or receiving wages.
- After the layoffs, many workers were taken off the pay-roll. (They were dismissed from employment.)
Variants and Related Words
- Payroll (n): a common alternative spelling (without the hyphen), meaning the same as "pay-roll".
- The payroll system was updated last year. (The system for managing wages was improved.)
- Pay-roller (n): a person who is on a pay-roll; an employee.
- Every pay-roller received a bonus this quarter. (Every employee got extra money.)
Synonyms
- Wage list: a list of employees and their wages.
- Salary schedule: a structured list of salaries paid to staff.
- Staff roster: a list of employees, often including their pay details.
Related Idioms
To be on the pay-roll: to be officially employed and receiving a salary.
- She is on the pay-roll as a consultant. (She is a paid consultant for the company.)
To add to the pay-roll: to hire new employees.
- The company plans to add 20 new workers to the pay-roll next month. (They intend to hire 20 new staff members.)