pension
- 01 C1 Advanced
to give someone a regular payment so they can stop working.
to grant a pension to an individual, often as a requirement for their retirement.
Simple“The company decided to pension off the older staff to make room for new graduates.”
In context“After forty years of loyal service, the clerk was finally pensioned off with a modest ceremony and a gold watch.”
UsageCommonly appears in the phrasal verb 'pension off'.
Usage pensions secretary
“And if we hadn’t done anything our aged pension cost would be higher than they are today.” How much higher is too hard to say.”
“He doesn't think he'll get any kind of state pension.”
From Middle English pencioun, pensioun, from Anglo-Norman pencione, Old French pencion, and their source, Latin pēnsiō (“payment, weight, rent, compensation”), from the participle stem of pendō (“to weigh”).
From French pension, from Old French pencion, as etymology 1 above. Doublet of pensione.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.