Pay One's Dues Meaning

Example : To outlay money which is owed as a membership fee or price of admission.1871, Thomas Hardy, Desperate Remedies, ch. 8:  The carrier to Casterbridge came up as Edward stepped into the road, and jumped down from the van to pay toll. . . . The carrier paid his dues.2005 August 7, Jeff Leeds, "A Money Scandal That's Rocking Hip-Hop, New York Times (retrieved 17 July 2013):  [S]he spent some time paying her dues at entry-level jobs.2005 Nov. 6, Donald Morrison, "Still Enough Wrongs To Write," Time:  He too championed the anti-apartheid cause, paid his dues, had his works banned.