GAGE  , a

pledge, something deposited as security for the performance of an agreement, and liable to be forfeited on failure to carry it out . The word also appears in " engage," and is taken from the O . Fr., as are " wage," payment for services, and " wager," bet, stake, from the collateral O . Fr. waige . These two words are from the Low Lat. wadiare, vadiare, to pledge, vadiunz, classical Lat. vas, vadis, but may be from the old Teutonic cognate base seen in Gothic wadi, a pledge (cf . Ger. wetten, to wager) ; this Teutonic base' is seen in Eng . " wed," to marry, i.e. to engage by a pledge (cf . Goth. gawadjon, to betrothe) . A particular form of giving a " gage " or pledge was that of throwing down a glove or gauntlet as a challenge to a judicial combat, the glove being the " pledge " that the parties would appear on the field; hence the common phrase " to throw down the gage of defiance " for any challenge (see GLOVE and WAGER) .