pay‧mas‧ter /ˈpeɪˌmɑːstə $ -ˌmæstər/ noun [countable]

1. a powerful person or organization that secretly pays and controls another person or organization:
The assassin’s paymasters were never identified.

2. someone who is responsible for giving people their wages that they are owed, for example an official in a factory or the army

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲