Tithe
Tithe , noun
[Old English tithe, tethe, properly an adj., tenth, Anglo-Saxon teó{not transcribed}a the tenth; akin to tién, t{not transcribed}n, tēn, ten, German zehnte, adj., tenth, n., a tithe, Icelandic tīund the tenth; tithe, Gothic taíhunda tenth. See Ten, and compare Tenth, Teind.]
1.
A tenth; the tenth part of anything; specifically, the tenthpart 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. Almost all the tithes of England and Wales are commuted by law into rent charges.
The tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil.
Tithes are called personal when accuring from labor, art, trade, and navigation; predial, when issuing from the earth, as hay, wood, and fruit; and mixed, when accuring from beaste fed from the ground.
2.
Hence, a small part or proportion. — Bacon
Collocations (4)
Great tithes , tithes of corn, hay, and wood.
Mixed tithes , tithes of wool, milk, pigs, etc.
Small tithes , personal and mixed tithes.
Tithe commissioner , one of a board of officers appointed by the government for arranging propositions for commuting, or compounding for, tithes. [English] — Simmonds
Tithe , adjective
Tenth. [Obsolete]
Every tithe soul, 'mongst many thousand.
Tithe , transitive verb
[As. teó{not transcribed}ian.]
To levy a tenth part on; to tax to the amount of a tenth; to pay tithes on.
Ye tithe mint and rue.
Tithe , intransitive verb
Tp pay tithes. [Rare] — Tusser