[Sp. alcabala, alcavala, ad. Arab. al-qabālah the tax, duty, impost (Fr. gabelle), f. qabala to receive.] (See quot.)
1776. Adam Smith, W. N. (1869), II. V. ii. 498. The famous Alcavala of Spain … was at first a tax of ten per cent … upon the sale of every sort of property.
1846. Prescott, Ferd. & Isab., III. xvi. 167. The alcavalas of the grandmasterships of the military orders.
