Also 4–7 taske, 5–7 tasque. [a. ONF. tasque (13th c. in Godef.) = OF. tasche, F. tâche; or ad. med.L. tasca (taschia) (c. 800 in Du Cange), according to Diez, by metathesis for taxa, f. L. taxāre to rate, estimate, value, in med.L. to impose or assess a tax.]
I. † 1. A fixed payment to a king, lord, or feudal superior; an impost, tax; tribute. Obs.
[1114–8. Laws Hen. I., c. 78 § 5. Persoluantur uel in taschis uel huiusmodi suggerendis, sicut de b[a]st[ar]dis est institutum.]
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 17918. This is the somme that Gregays aske, That thei wole haue vnto her taske: Ten hundrid thousand pound of golde.
14[?]. in Wars Eng. in France (1864), II. 525. Tasques, taylles, inposicione of the comyns.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 487/1. Taske, or talyage, taliagium, taxa.
c. 1475. Harl. Contin. Higden (Rolls), VIII. 454. Grete exaccions and taskes.
1530. Palsgr., 279/2. Taske that a prince gadereth, taulx.
1624. Maldon, Essex, Borough Deeds (Bundle 108 lf. 12). xxd. payd the collectors of the taske for twoe fifteenes and tenths.
a. 1625. Sir H. Finch, Law (1636), 298. High Collectors of any Taske, Subsedie, or lone.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. v. 75. By statute 25 Edw. I. c. 5 & 6 … it was enacted, that the king should take no aids or tasks but by the common assent of the realm.
2. A piece of work imposed, exacted, or undertaken as a duty or the like; originally, a fixed or specified quantity of labor or work imposed on or exacted from a person; later, the work appointed or assigned to one as a definite duty.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5872. And taron sett he men at ask Of ilk dai to yeild þair task [v.r. taske]. Ibid. (13[?]), 29000. Has he [Christ] sett vs certain task Quilk ar þai bones for to ask.
c. 1400. St. Alexius (Laud, 622), 675. Nouȝth as a Man of task.
1530. Tindale, Exod. v. 14. Wherfore haue ye not fulfilled youre taske in makinge brycke?
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rom., 8. The Iewes … whiche hauyng … become christian men, & worke no longer now, as it wer by tasque, but vnfainedly & purely put theyr trust in him.
1573–80. Baret, Alv., T 79. The Taske, or worke that one is appointed to do.
1645. Milton, Tetrach., Wks. 1851, IV. 237. A task we know is a proportion of work, not doing the same thing absolutely every day, but so much.
1699. Burnet, 39 Art., xxv. (1700), 283. Prayers gone through as a Task can be of no value.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 111, ¶ 6. The silk-worm, after having spun her task, lays her eggs and dies.
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 13, ¶ 6. She … appoints them a task of needle-work.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 435. In getting fuel from the woods … one cord is the task for a day.
1892. Westcott, Gospel of Life, 272. Each age has its own task, and we can dimly see our own.
b. spec. A portion of study imposed by a teacher; a lesson to be learned or prepared. Now arch.
1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistress, 155. Eftsoons the urchins to their tasks repair, Their books of stature small they take in hand.
1760. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, II. 126. These lessons might be given every night as tasks.
1811. Byron, Hints fr. Hor., 231. Fines, tutors, tasks, conventions threat in vain.
1901. Northern Whig, 8 May (E.D.D.). An Ulster lad, when at school, gets his ‘tasks.’
3. In more general sense: Any piece of work that has to be done; something that one has to do (usually involving labor or difficulty); a matter of difficulty, a ‘piece of work.’ Cf. JOB sb.2 4.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., II. ii. 145. Alas poore Duke, the taske he vndertakes Is numbring sands, and drinking Oceans drie.
1637. T. Morton, New Eng. Canaan (1883), 182. My taske … is to intreat of the naturall indowments of the Country.
1641. Brome, Joviall Crew, II. Wks. 1873, III. 384. Alass poor Knave! How hard a tasque it is to alter Custome!
1754. Connoisseur, No. 42, ¶ 7. To rescue our Native Language … is a task worthy those who are accounted Ornaments of our Seats of Learning.
1841. W. Spalding, Italy & It. Isl., III. 101. Never had sovereigns been called upon to perform a task more difficult than that which lay before the restored princes of Italy.
1858. Froude, Hist. Eng., III. xvii. 525. He had taken upon himself a task beyond the ordinary strength of man.
1888. Justin McCarthy, Ireland’s Cause in England’s Parliament, 31. Cornwallis, Castlereagh, and Clare,—Lord Clare, the Irish lord chancellor,—were the triumvirate intrusted with the odious task [of passing the Act of Union].
II. Phrases. † 4. a. At task: (a) at so much for a specified amount or piece of work, by the piece; (b) ? taken to task, blamed (a doubtful sense, the reading being uncertain). b. By task, to task, by the piece. c. Under task, under the command of a taskmaster; by compulsion. Obs.
a. 1477–8. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 364. Helyng and poyntyng in dyvers places atte Taske.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. iv. 366 (Fol. 1). Yet vnder pardon You are much more at task [Qo. 1 attaskt] for want of wisedome, Then prai’sd for harmefull mildnesse.
b. 1601–2. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 628. Item for caruing the eight beastes by taske.
1803. Naval Chron., XV. 58. A job note … an actual statement of the work performed by job and task.
1476–7. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 363. Swaryng of timber to carpenters to taske viijd.
c. 1671. Milton, Samson, 35. To grind in Brazen Fetters under task With this Heav’n-gifted strength.
5. To take to task: † (a) to undertake as one’s task or special piece of work; † (b) to challenge (a person) to a task; † (c) to take (a person or thing) in hand, to deal with; (d) esp. (in current use), to deal with or tackle in the way of fault-finding or censure, to call to account about a matter: cf. TASK v. 5, TAX v. 6.
1546. Accts. Osney & St. Frideswyde’s (MS Wood, D. 2, p. 585). To a laborer pulling downe stone at Osney church, for ye masons yt took ye walle to taske at frideswides.
1570. J. Dee, Math. Pref., a iv b. Geographie did principally take the Element of the Earthes description … to taske.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xix. (Arb.), 253. He … would take any common souldier to taske at wrastling, or weapon, or in any other actiuitie … of armes.
1649. Bp. Hall, Cases Consc. (1650), 265. Apollos … knew nothing but the Baptisme of John: till Aquila and Priscilla took him to task, and more perfectly expounded to him the way of God.
1682. Wood, Life, 31 May (O.H.S.), III. 19. George Royse … took his principles to taske and exposed them very smartly.
1740. trans. De Mouhy’s Fort. Country-Maid (1741), I. 84. What is the Matter, my pretty Girl?… has any one been taking you to Task?
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1792), I. 81. [He] shut the door, and called him to task.
1822. Examiner, 365/1. The Quarterly is taken to task for neglecting its duty.
1890. Doyle, Capt. ‘Polestar,’ etc., 205. My employer took me severely to task.
III. 6. attrib. and Comb., as, † (in sense 1) task-book, -cope, -gatherer, -money, -roll (obs.); (in senses 2 and 3), task-book, -house, -labor, -laborer, -lord, -officer, -reading, -verse; task-like adj.; task-man, an officer who sets a task, a taskmaster; task-note, a memorandum of work done by the piece, a job-note: see quot. 1803 in 4 b; task-system, the system of working by the piece. See also TASKMASTER, etc.
1624. Maldon, Essex, Borough Deeds (Bundle 108 lf. 8). xs. payd to Samwell Chese for new writing of the *taske booke (in parchment) this yere.
1882. J. Parker, Apost. Life, I. 17. Some men hardly can open the Bible … because they remember that in early days it was the task-book.
1463. in Bury Wills (Camden), 21. To aquyte the said Seynt Marie preest of the *taske Abbot’s cope and alle manner charges generally at ony [time] askyd by ony manner of mene.
1552. Huloet, *Taske gatherer, exactor.
1847. Ld. Lindsay, Hist. Chr. Art, I. Introd. 168. There was my place of prayer, there the *task-house of my most wretched flesh.
1812. Gen. Hist., in Ann. Reg., 161/2. The working of mines, and other *task labour.
1838–9. Fr. A. Kemble, Resid. in Georgia (1863), 28. In the part of Georgia where this estate is situated, the custom of task labour is universal.
1897. A. Drucker, trans. Ihering’s Evol. Aryan, 116. The Egyptians knew no mercy for their *task-labourers.
1830. Fr. A. Kemble, Lett., in Rec. Girlhood (1878), II. iv. 115. With what *task-like feeling I set about most of my work.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. III. Law, 137. They labour hard, eat little, sleeping lesse, No sooner layd, but thus their *Task-Lords presse.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 435. One cord is the task for a day…. The *taskman selecting the trees … that he judges will split easiest, one hundred a day.
1593. Jack Straw, I., in Hazl., Dodsley, V. 379. Thou hast thy *task-money for all that be here.
1803. Naval Chron., XV. 58. Is there any particular form of job or *task note?
1865. J. H. Ingraham, Pillar of Fire (1872), 135. Enrolling them under *task-officers.
1577. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. IV. 439. A *taske rowle made for the manor of Romseley.
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 57. Examined as to the operation of what is known as the *task and job system.
1875. Lowell, Wks. (1890), IV. 360. At school Wordsworth wrote some *task-verses on subjects imposed by the master.
