Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Tax
Tax
,Noun.
1.
A charge, especially a pecuniary burden which is imposed by authority.
Specifically: –(a)
A charge or burden laid upon persons or property for the support of a government.
A farmer of
taxes
is, of all creditors, proverbially the most rapacious. Macaulay.
(b)
Especially, the sum laid upon specific things, as upon polls, lands, houses, income, etc.;
as, a land
. tax
; a window tax
; a tax
on carriages, and the likeTaxes are
annual
or perpetual
, direct
or indirect
, etc. (c)
A sum imposed or levied upon the members of a society to defray its expenses.
2.
A task exacted from one who is under control; a contribution or service, the rendering of which is imposed upon a subject.
3.
A disagreeable or burdensome duty or charge;
as, a heavy
. tax
on time or health4.
Charge; censure.
[Obs.]
Clarendon.
5.
A lesson to be learned; a task.
[Obs.]
Johnson.
Tax cart
, a spring cart subject to a low tax.
[Eng.]
Syn. – Impost; tribute; contribution; duty; toll; rate; assessment; exaction; custom; demand.
1.
To subject to the payment of a tax or taxes; to impose a tax upon; to lay a burden upon; especially, to exact money from for the support of government.
We are more heavily
taxed
by our idleness, pride, and folly than we are taxed
by government. Franklin.
2.
(Law)
To assess, fix, or determine judicially, the amount of;
as, to
. tax
the cost of an action in court3.
To charge; to accuse; also, to censure; – often followed by with, rarely by of before an indirect object;
as, to
. tax
a man with prideI
tax
you, you elements, with unkindness. Shakespeare
Men’s virtues I have commended as freely as I have
taxed
their crimes. Dryden.
Fear not now that men should
tax
thine honor. M. Arnold.
Webster 1828 Edition
Tax
TAX
,Noun.
1.
A rate or sum of money assessed on the person or property of a citizen by government, for the use of the nation or state. Taxes, in free governments, are usually laid upon the property of citizens according to their income, or the value of their estates. Tax is a term of general import, including almost every species of imposition on persons or property for supplying the public treasury, as tolls, tribute, subsidy, excise, impost, or customs. But more generally, tax is limited to the sum laid upon polls, lands, houses, horses, cattle, professions and occupations. So we speak of a land tax, a window tax, a tax on carriages, &c. Taxes are annual or perpetual.2.
A sum imposed on the persons and property of citizens to defray the expenses of a corporation, society, parish or company; as a city tax, a county tax, a parish tax, and the like. So a private association may lay a tax on its members for the use of the association.3.
That which is imposed; a burden. The attention that he gives to public business is a heavy tax on his time.4.
Charge; censure.5.
Task.TAX
,Verb.
T.
1.
To law, impose or assess upon citizens a certain sum of money or amount of property, to be paid to the public treasury, or to the treasury of a corporation or company, to defray the expenses of the government or corporation, &c. We are more heavily taxed by our idleness, pride and folly, than we are taxed by government.
2.
To load with a burden or burdens. The narrator--never taxes our faith beyond the obvious bounds of probability.
3.
To assess, fix or determine judicially, as the amount of cost on actions in court; as, the court taxes bills of cost.4.
To charge; to censure; to accuse; usually followed by with; as, to tax a man with pride. He was taxed with presumption. Men's virtues I have commended as freely as I have taxed their crimes.
[To tax of a crime, is not in use, nor to tax for. Both are now improper.]
Definition 2024
tax
tax
See also: tax-
English
Noun
tax (countable and uncountable, plural taxes)
- Money paid to the government other than for transaction-specific goods and services.
- 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19:
- In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […] Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax. The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
-
- A burdensome demand.
- a heavy tax on time or health
- A task exacted from one who is under control; a contribution or service, the rendering of which is imposed upon a subject.
- (obsolete) charge; censure
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Clarendon to this entry?)
- (obsolete) A lesson to be learned.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
Synonyms
- (money paid to government): impost, tribute, contribution, duty, toll, rate, assessment. exaction, custom, demand, levy
Antonyms
- (money paid to government): subsidy
Hyponyms
types of taxes
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Coordinate terms
other government revenues
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Derived terms
terms derived from tax (noun)
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Translations
money paid to government
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Verb
tax (third-person singular simple present taxes, present participle taxing, simple past and past participle taxed)
- (transitive) To impose and collect a tax from (a person).
- Some think to tax the wealthy is the fairest.
- (transitive) To impose and collect a tax on (something).
- Some think to tax wealth is destructive of a private sector.
- (transitive) To make excessive demands on.
- Do not tax my patience.
Derived terms
Translations
to impose and collect a tax
Latin
Alternative forms
Noun
tax m
- an onomatopoeia expressing the sound of blows, whack, crack
References
- tax in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- Félix Gaffiot (1934), “tax”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
- tax in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers