Definition of "paymaster" [pay•mas•ter]

• A person in charge of paying wages and salaries. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Their current paymaster is HRC, who can't afford the bills."
• "Their current paymaster is HRC, who couldn’t afford the bills."
• "Yet the details of this new "strategic" role for local authorities are yet to be revealed and, as Linnell points out: "Playing a strategic role will be much more difficult if the paymaster is the YPLA," especially as local authorities will still have statutory responsibility for the 16 - to 18-year-olds in their area."