Pay wife to go on date (4)
I believe the answer is:
wage
'pay' is the definition.
('wage' can be a synonym of 'pay')
'wife to go on date' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w'.
'to go on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (in a down clue, some letters go on top of others).
'date' becomes 'age'.
'w'+'age'='WAGE'
(Other definitions for wage that I've seen before include "Money paid to worker" , "something to do with war?" , "Reward for work" , "Engage in - pay" , "Regular amount of income" .)