tithe
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tithe
- /taɪð/
Rhymes with -aɪð
Where it comes from
From Middle English tithe, tythe, tethe, from Old English tēoþa, tēoða, teogoþa (in verb senses via Middle English tithen, tythen, tethen, from Old English tēoþian, teogoþian), from a proposed Proto-Germanic *tehunþô, *tehundô (“a tenth”), with its nasal consonant being lost according to the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law. Cognate with West Frisian tsiende (“tithe”), Saterland Frisian Teeged (“tithe”), Dutch tiende, German Low German Teihnte, German Zehnt (“tithe”), Danish tiende (“tithe”), Icelandic tíund (“tithe”), Dutch tiende (“tithe”). Doublet of tenth.
noun tithes
- A tenth. But really that gold was not half That a king might have hoped to compel— Not a half, not a third, not a tithe.
- The tenth part of the increase arising from the profits of land and stock, allotted to the clergy for their support, as in England, or devoted to religious or charitable uses; a tax taking ten percent of land or stock profits, used for religious or charitable purposes. For this is abundantly confuted by the Constitutions and Practice of these Christian States where Tithes have been variously settled, for maintenance of the Evangelical Priest-hood ; and other pious Uses, by legal and civil Tithes, which imply a Debitum Justitiæ.
- A contribution to one's religious community or congregation of worship (notably to the LDS church).
- A small part or proportion. Prayers and calling-over seemed twice as short as usual, and before they could get construes of a tithe of the hard passages marked in the margin of their books, they were all seated round, and the Doctor was standing in the middle, talking in whispers to the master.
adjective
- Tenth. Euery tythe ſoule, 'mongſt many thouſand diſmes,
verb tithes · tithing · tithed
- To pay something as a tithe. He teoðode gynd eall his cyne rice ðone teoðan del ealra his landa.
- To pay a tithe upon something. ...ge tiogoðiað eowre mintan & eowerne dile & eowerne kymen.
- To pay a tithe; to pay a 10% tax Þe prest þe meneȝeð rihtliche teðien.
- To pay or offer as a levy in the manner of a tithe or religious tax. These slaves are either the sonnes of Christians, tithed in their childhoods, Captives taken in the warres, or Renegadoes.
- To take one-tenth or a tithe of something, particularly gif we teoðiað þas gearlican dagas, þonne beoð þær six and ðritig teoðing-dagas.
- To impose a tithe upon someone or something. Leeuy, that took tithis, is tithid.
- To spare only every tenth person, killing the rest (usually in relation to the sacking of the episcopal seat at Canterbury by the pagan Danes in 1011). Þe folk of Crist was tiþed, þat is to seie, nyne slayn and þe tenþe i-kepte.
- To enforce or collect a tithe upon someone or something. The Monkes the Priors and holy cloystred Nunnes, Are all in health,...
- To decimate: to kill every tenth person, usually as a military punishment. By decimation, and a tithed death, / ... take thou the destin'd tenth
- To enforce or collect a tithe. Those who tithe and toll upon them for their spiritual and temporal benefit.
- To compose the tenth part of something. Her sorrowes did not tith her ioy.