Pa. pple. 5–6 exempt. [ad. Fr. exempter, f. exempt adj.: see prec.]
† 1. trans. To take out or away; to put far away, remove, cut off. Const. from, out of. Obs.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 39. Exempted from Sathan, to lyve for ever with Christe our Savioure.
1563. Homilies, II. Right Use Church, II. (1859), 165. They … were exempted and banished (as it were) from the house of the Lord.
1565. Golding, Ovid’s Met., IV. (1593), 97. He hist: for nature now had cleane exempt All other speach.
1589. Greene, Arcadia (1616), 40. Ile exempt them [flowers] all from my smell.
1595. R. Johnson, 7 Champions, II. v. (1608), 4. The Emperours onely daughter … exempted herselfe from all company.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 4/1. The payne vvill totallye be exemptede, and abolishede.
1635. Tom a Lincolne, in Thoms, Prose Rom. (1858), II. 267. Being once exempted from my sight.
† b. To single out, select. Obs.
1538. Starkey, England, I. iv. 139. For theyr vertue they schold be … from the commyn pepul, as hyt were, exemptyd.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. i. 22. She exempted out of the sorte and order of common women, was chosen.
1648. Milton, Sonn., xiii. To H. Lawes. Thy worth and skill exempts thee from the throng.
† 2. To take away or omit (from a category or enumeration); to except. Const. from, out of; rarely with double obj. Also in the pa. pple. in concord with a sb. in the nominative absolute; = EXCEPT 3 b; and in the pr. pple. used absol. as quasi-prep.: = EXCEPTING prep. A. 1. Obs.
1548. Gest, Pr. Masse, 120. Praying to Christ at the masse, hys supper or els where, heauen exempted.
1571. Fortescue, Forest of Hist., 5. A small matter is it in niene hundred or a thousande yeeres to exempte twentie or thirtie.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 129. S. Iohn … doth not exempt him selfe out of the same number.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, I. (1625), 53. The ordering whereof (except in Letters Excusatorie or Defensorie) is wholly exempted, the course in those Letters prescribed.
1604. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., Pref. viii. § 9. Their error exempted [ed. 1594 excepted] they seemed otherwise right good men.
1665. Glanvill, Sceps. Sci., ix. 47. While all complain of our Ignorance and Error, every one exempts himself.
1731. Lett. from Fog’s Jrnl. (1732), II. 286. Invited … by all Ranks … not exempting even a Branch of the Royal Family.
† 3. To debar, exclude from the enjoyment of or participation in something. Obs.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet., 101 b. They … exempted brybers frome bearynge rule in the commune weale.
1579. North, Plutarch, Agesilaus, 670. Them selues [the Thebans] onely exempted from treatie of peace.
1667. H. More, Div. Dial., I. xxxv. (1713), 78. Cogitation is … exempted or prescinded from all Extension.
1689. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 311. The Convention … exempt the Duke of Hanover from the succession to the Crown.
4. To grant to (a person, etc.) immunity or freedom from a liability to which others are subject:
a. from (the payment of) a fine, tax, etc. Also const. of, simply, and absol.
1467. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 393. Euery citezen and Burgeys wtoutforth shal pay at euery taske, vigille, lones … except certeyn persones that … be exemted.
1496–7. Act 12 Hen. VII., c. 13 § 1. Tounes and places … exempted or discharged of payment to suche xvmes.
1573. Cooper, Thesaurus, Eximere de vectigalibus, to exempt from paying tribute.
1705. Arbuthnot, Coins, 279. Valentinian … exempted them [Mariners] from all Taxes.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, I. 149. When did … his bailiff exempt from the rent?
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 163. Other towns were exempted … from … customs dues.
b. from (the control of) laws, (obedience to) an authority.
1401. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 28. Why have ye exempt you from our kings lawes.
1530. Palsgr., 541/2. Many abbayes be exempted from their bysshoppe.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. iii. § 25. King Kenulphus … had power to exempt this Abbot from the Iurisdiction of the Bishop.
1761. Hume, Hist. Eng., III. liv. 160. Those high churchmen … were desirous of exempting the mitre from all subjection to the crown.
1829. I. Taylor, Enthus., ii. (1867), 33. The religious emotions are exempted from this general law.
c. from pain, penalty, suffering or inconvenience; also, from a defect, weakness, etc.
1484. Caxton, Curiall, 1. Fortune hath exempte the fro the anguysshes that I suffre.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., III. 195. Ye cursednesse of old Adam, from which we are exempted by Christ.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. (1843), I. 4/1. But the course of exempting men from prosecution, by dissolving of parliaments.
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., ix. 330. Our Saviour’s own Disciples were not exempted from the common Error.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 218. A Delay from which we are exempted by our new Method.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), I. v. 443. Clergy who committed felony were no longer exempted from the penalties of their crimes.
d. from a burden, duty, or obligation, a burdensome state or condition.
1479. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 414. King Edwarde the thirdde … by his honourable chartres exemptid the saide maires, to … feche their saide charges at the castell Yate.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. xxxiii. 16. Kings and Tyrants … being exempted from the comon lot, seeme to themselves to be out of danger of gunshot.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks, 587 (J.). The priests and religious were not then exempted, but fought among the other souldiours.
c. 1665. Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846), 39. Living constantly in the country he could not be exempted from administering justice among them.
1703. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus., 126. The Beast which carries this sacred Load, has the privilege to be exempted from all other burdens ever after.
1718. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., l. II. 70. The quarantine, from which nobody is exempted.
1836. Lane, Mod. Egypt., II. 345. The Copts … are exempted from military service.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, Introd. (1852), 36. A conscription … pressing with its utmost severity on certain classes of the population, and exempting others.
