[trib-yoot] 
| 1. | a gift, testimonial, compliment, or the like, given as due or in acknowledgment of gratitude or esteem. |
| 2. | a stated sum or other valuable consideration paid by one sovereign or state to another in acknowledgment of subjugation or as the price of peace, security, protection, or the like. |
| 3. | a rent, tax, or the like, as that paid by a subject to a sovereign. |
| 4. | any exacted or enforced payment or contribution. |
| 5. | obligation or liability to make such payment. |
| trib·ute (trĭb'yōōt) n.
[Middle English tribut, from Old French, from Latin tribūtum, from neuter past participle of tribuere, to pay, distribute, from tribus, tribe; see tribe.] |
Tribute
a tax imposed by a king on his subjects (2 Sam. 20:24; 1 Kings 4:6; Rom. 13:6). In Matt. 17:24-27 the word denotes the temple rate (the "didrachma," the "half-shekel," as rendered by the R.V.) which was required to be paid for the support of the temple by every Jew above twenty years of age (Ex. 30:12; 2 Kings 12:4; 2 Chr. 24:6, 9). It was not a civil but a religious tax. In Matt. 22:17, Mark 12:14, Luke 20:22, the word may be interpreted as denoting the capitation tax which the Romans imposed on the Jewish people. It may, however, be legitimately regarded as denoting any tax whatever imposed by a foreign power on the people of Israel. The "tribute money" shown to our Lord (Matt. 22:19) was the denarius, bearing Caesar's superscription. It was the tax paid by every Jew to the Romans. (See PENNY.)