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tithing - 5 dictionary results

tith⋅ing

[tahy-thing]
–noun
1. a tithe.
2. a giving or an exacting of tithes.
3. a grouping of men, originally 10 in number, for legal and security purposes in the Anglo-Saxon and Norman system of frankpledge.
4. a rural division in England, originally regarded as one tenth of a hundred, descended from this system.

Origin:
bef. 950; ME; OE tigething. See tithe, -ing 1

tithe

[tahyth] ,noun, verb, tithed, tith⋅ing.
–noun
1. Sometimes, tithes. the tenth part of agricultural produce or personal income set apart as an offering to God or for works of mercy, or the same amount regarded as an obligation or tax for the support of the church, priesthood, or the like.
2. any tax, levy, or the like, esp. of one-tenth.
3. a tenth part or any indefinitely small part of anything.
–verb (used with object)
4. to give or pay a tithe or tenth of (produce, money, etc.).
5. to give or pay tithes on (crops, income, etc.).
6. to exact a tithe from (a person, community, parish, etc.).
7. to levy a tithe on (crops, income, etc.).
–verb (used without object)
8. to give or pay a tithe.
Also, British, tythe.


Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME ti(ghe)the, OE teogotha tenth; (v.) ME tithen, OE teogothian to take the tenth of, deriv. of the n.


titheless, adjective
tithe   (tīth)   
n.  
    1. A tenth part of one's annual income contributed voluntarily or due as a tax, especially for the support of the clergy or church.
    2. The institution or obligation of paying tithes.
    3. A tenth part.
    4. A very small part.
  1. A tax or assessment of one tenth.
    1. A tenth part.
    2. A very small part.
v.   tithed, tith·ing, tithes

v.   tr.
  1. To contribute or pay a tenth part of (one's annual income).
  2. To levy a tithe on.
v.   intr.
To pay a tithe.

[Middle English, from Old English tēotha; see dek in Indo-European roots.]
tith'a·ble (tī'thə-bəl) adj., tith'er n.
Word History: A tithe is a tenth, etymologically speaking; in fact, tithe is the old ordinal numeral in English. Sound changes in the prehistory of English are responsible for its looking so different from the word ten. Tithe goes back to a prehistoric West Germanic form *tehuntha-, formed from the cardinal numeral *tehun, "ten," and the same ordinal suffix that survives in Modern English as -th. The n disappeared before the th in the West Germanic dialect area that gave rise to English, and eventually yielded the Old English form tēothe, "tenth," still not too different from the cardinal numeral tīen. But over time, as the former became tithe and the latter ten, and as tithe developed the specialized meaning "a tenth part paid as a tax," it grew harder to perceive a relationship between the two. The result was that speakers of English created a new word for the ordinal, tenth, built with the cardinal numeral ten on the pattern of the other regularly-formed ordinal numerals like sixth or seventh.
tith·ing   (tī'thĭng)   
n.  An administrative division consisting of ten householders in the old English system of frankpledge.

Tithing

Tith"ing\, n. [AS. te['o]?ung.]

1. The act of levying or taking tithes; that which is taken as tithe; a tithe.

To take tithing of their blood and sweat. --Motley.

2. (O. Eng. Law) A number or company of ten householders who, dwelling near each other, were sureties or frankpledges to the king for the good behavior of each other; a decennary. --Blackstone.
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