to earn the wages of sin
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To be hanged, or condemned to death. The wages of sin is death — Rom. vi, 23.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to earn the wages of sin” mean?
To be hanged, or condemned to death. The wages of sin is death — Rom. vi, 23.
Is “to earn the wages of sin” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.