mortpay

English

Etymology

From French mort (“dead”) + English pay.

Noun

mortpay (plural mortpays)

1. (obsolete or historicl) The crime of taking pay for the service of dead soldiers, or for services not actually rendered by soldiers.
   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

     the severe punishing of mortpays and keeping back soldiers' wages in captain

References

• “mortpay”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.