pay|er /pe I ə r / (payers )
1 N‑COUNT [oft n N ] You can refer to someone as a payer if they pay a particular kind of bill or fee. For example, a mortgage payer is someone who pays a mortgage. □ Lower interest rates pleased millions of mortgage payers.
2 → see also ratepayer , taxpayer
3 N‑COUNT [adj N ] A good payer pays you quickly or pays you a lot of money. A bad payer takes a long time to pay you, or does not pay you very much. □ I have always been a good payer and have never gone into debt.
pa y|ing gue st (paying guests ) N‑COUNT A paying guest is a person who pays to stay with someone in their home, usually for a short time. □ My mother took in paying guests.
pay|load /pe I loʊd/ (payloads )
1 N‑VAR The payload of an aircraft or spacecraft is the amount or weight of things or people that it is carrying. [TECHNICAL ] □ With these very large passenger payloads, one question looms above all others – safety.
2 N‑VAR The payload of a missile or similar weapon is the quantity of explosives it contains. [MILITARY ] □ …a gun capable of delivering substantial payloads.
pay|master /pe I mɑːstə r , -mæst-/ (paymasters )
1 N‑COUNT [oft with poss] A paymaster is a person or organization that pays and therefore controls another person or organization. □ …the ruling party's paymasters in business and banking.
2 N‑COUNT A paymaster is an official in the armed forces who is responsible for the payment of wages and salaries. [MILITARY ]
pay|ment ◆◆◇ /pe I mənt/ (payments )
1 N‑COUNT [oft n N ] A payment is an amount of money that is paid to someone, or the act of paying this money. □ Thousands of its customers are in arrears with loans and mortgage payments. □ [+ of ] The fund will make payments of just over £1 billion next year. [Also + to/on ]
2 N‑UNCOUNT Payment is the act of paying money to someone or of being paid. □ [+ of ] He had sought to obtain payment of a sum which he had claimed was owed to him. [Also + for ]
3 → see also balance of payments , down payment
pa y|ment card (payment cards ) N‑COUNT A payment card is a plastic card which you use like a credit card, but which takes the money directly from your bank account.
pay|off /pe I ɒf/ (payoffs ) also pay-off
1 N‑COUNT The payoff from an action is the advantage or benefit that you get from it. □ [+ from ] The payoffs from such a breakthrough would be enormous.
2 N‑COUNT A payoff is a payment which is made to someone, often secretly or illegally, so that they will not cause trouble. □ [+ from ] He owned luxury property abroad, bought with payoffs from foreign companies.
3 N‑COUNT A payoff is a large payment made to someone by their employer when the person has been forced to leave their job. □ The ousted chairman received a £1.5 million payoff from the loss-making oil company.
pay|ola /pe I oʊ lə/ N‑UNCOUNT Payola was the term used for the illegal practice of paying radio broadcasters to play certain CDs, so that the CDs would become more popular and therefore make more profits for the record company. [AM ]
pay|out /pe I aʊt/ (payouts ) also pay-out N‑COUNT A payout is a sum of money, especially a large one, that is paid to someone, for example by an insurance company or as a prize. □ …long delays in receiving insurance payouts.
pa y pack|et (pay packets )
1 N‑COUNT [oft poss N ] Your pay packet is the envelope containing your wages, which your employer gives you at the end of every week. [BRIT ] in AM, use pay envelope 2 N‑COUNT [oft poss N ] You can refer to someone's wages or salary as their pay packet . [BRIT ] in AM, use paycheck , pay
pa y-per-cli ck ADJ A pay-per-click system of payment is one in which a company has adverts on someone else's website and pays the website owner each time someone clicks on the advert. □ The site hosts several pay-per-click adverts.
pa y-per-vie w N‑UNCOUNT [oft N n] Pay-per-view is a cable or satellite television system in which you have to pay a fee if you want to watch a particular programme. □ The match appeared on pay-per-view television.
pay|phone /pe I foʊn/ (payphones ) also pay phone N‑COUNT A payphone is a phone which you need to put coins or a card in before you can make a call. Payphones are usually in public places.
pay|roll /pe I roʊl/ (payrolls ) N‑COUNT [oft on N ] The people on the payroll of a company or an organization are the people who work for it and are paid by it. [BUSINESS ] □ They had 87,000 employees on the payroll.
pay|slip /pe I sl I p/ (payslips ) also pay slip N‑COUNT A payslip is a piece of paper given to an employee at the end of each week or month, which states how much money he or she has earned and how much tax has been taken off. [BRIT ]
pay|wall /pe I wɔːl/ (paywalls ) N‑COUNT A paywall is a system that stops the user of a website from seeing other pages on that site if they do not pay. □ Most of their data is behind the paywall.
PC ◆◇◇ /piː siː / (PCs )
1 N‑COUNT ; N‑TITLE In Britain, a PC is a male police officer of the lowest rank. PC is an abbreviation for 'police constable'. □ The PCs took her to the local station. □ PC Keith Gate helped arrest the men.
2 N‑COUNT A PC is a computer that is used by one person at a time in a business, a school, or at home. It is not usually a portable computer. PC is an abbreviation for 'personal computer'. □ The price of a PC has fallen by an average of 25% a year since 1982.