Forms: α. 1 teoʓoða, etc. (see TENTH A. 1 α), 3 tiȝeðe, tiȝðe, 4 tyþe, 4–5 tiþe, (5–7 tyth, 6 tieth (thiethe), 6–7 tith, 7 tyethe), 4– tithe, tythe. β. 1 téoða, etc. (see TENTH A. 1 β), 3 tēoþe, 3–4 tēþe, 5–6 tethe, (5 theth(e, 6 teyth). [Early ME. tiȝeðe, tiȝðe, ME. tīþe, tȳþe = OE. teoʓoþa, téoþa, forms of the numeral TENTH, which as a sb. acquired a specialized sense, in which this form has been retained, while the adj. has become tenth. For the general sense- and form-history see TENTH A. 1 α, β, B. 1. Cf. also TEIND, the specialized northern form.]
A. adj. Tenth. † a. Of order: see TENTH A. 1 α. Obs. b. Of a division or part; in ME. esp. in tithe deal. In modern use, since 16th c., app. taken anew from the sb., B. 3.
α. c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 895. Habram ȝaf him ðe tiȝðe del Of alle [h]is biȝete.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl. (Kölbing), 5429. Erl Does sone … Þe .ix. was…: Grifles so was tiþe, Wiȝt he was & noble swipe.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 5346. Ne þe tiþedel of hire atir to telle þe riȝt.
c. 1375. Tyþe [see TENTH A. 3].
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 480. Persounes and prestes … þat han her wille here,… þe tithe del þat trewemen biswynkyn.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 24. Alle þo þat ȝeuyn þe tythe scheef to þe reperys for here hyre, in takyng vp here cost for þe repyng, & ȝeuyn be xj. scheef for þe tythe.
β. 854–971. Teoða [see TENTH A. 3].
1297, 1387. Teþe [see TENTH A. 2].
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, I. iii. 89. One good woman in ten Madam…: Weed finde no fault with the tithe woman. Ibid. (1606), Tr. & Cr., II. ii. 19. Euery tythe soule ’mongst many thousand dismes, Hath bin as deere as Helen.
a. 1814. He must be married, I. i., in New Brit. Theatre, IV. 239. Why the veriest shrew … cannot muster a tythe part of the vagaries which abound in my composition.
1872. Westm. Rev., July, 90. We have not space to follow Dr. Newman through a tithe part of his illustrations.
B. sb. Absolute use of adj.: cf. TENTH B.
In OE. the ordinal téoða, pl. téoðan, was so used: see TENTH B. 1 b.
1. The tenth part of the annual produce of agriculture, etc., being a due or payment (orig. in kind) for the support of the priesthood, religious establishments, etc.; spec. applied to that ordained by the Mosaic law, and to that introduced in conformity therewith in England and other Christian lands. (The latter sense appears first in quots.)
a. in sing.
α. c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 83. Hie giuen here tiȝeðe noht for to hauen heuene blisse, ac for to hauen here þe hereword of eorðliche richeise.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 19. He [Adelwolf] was first of Inglond, þat gal God his tiþe.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 85. For of my Corn and Catel heo Craueþ þe Tiþe.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 1067 (Trin.). For þis tiþe [Laud tythe] þat þei delt, Caym … To his broþere ire bare.
1535. Coverdale, Mal. iii. 10. Brynge euery Tythe in to my barne.
1551–2. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 394. Iohn Crovcher oweth … The Tyth of his hovs.
1611. Bible, Lev. xxvii. 30. And all the tithe of the land … is the Lords.
1621. Bp. Mountagu, Diatribæ, 185. It being vncertaine in it selfe, whether Abraham gaue or receiued Tithe.
1771. Franklin, Autobiog., Wks. 1840, I. 9. My father intending to devote me, as the tythe of his sons, to the church.
1831. Lincoln Herald, 1 July, 3/3. There were three heifers to be canted [sold by auction] for tithe.
1845. McCulloch, Taxation, II. iv. (1852), 180. It will be seen that half the cultivated land of Great Britain is unaffected by tithe.
1884. J. Tait, Mind in Matter (1892), 206. The last symptom of restiveness … manifested by the Jews related to the tythe.
β. c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 43. He grauntyd & gaf to the holy my[n]chons a-foreseyde tethe of hys 100 Millis of Sewekeworth [= Seacourt] in corne, money, & fysshes.
b. chiefly in plural, including the various amounts thus due or received.
α. c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 139. Chierche-þinges, tiȝeþes, ne offrendes, ne almesses.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1628. Her ic sal offrendes bere don And tiȝðes wel ȝelden her-up-on.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 313. We reden not where he took tyþes as we don.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 539. Hise tithes payde he ful faire and wel Bothe of his propre swynk and his catel.
1388. Wyclif, Gen. xiv. 20. And Abram ȝaf tithis of alle thingis to hym [1382 And he ȝaue hym dymes of alle thingis].
1483. Caxton, Cato, g j b. The tythes whyche they owen to God and the holy chyrche.
1547. in Richmond Wills (Surtees), 64. I give to the hye alter for oblited thiethes a newe altare clothe.
1657. R. Child, in Hartlib’s Legacy (1655), 23. The Tythes of wine in Glocestershire, was in divers Parishes considerably great.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), II. 36. A donation of all the tyethes and other casualties.
1764. Burn, Poor Laws, 2. The whole tithes of the diocese were then paid to the bishop.
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke, xi. His own tithes here aren’t more than thirty pounds.
β. a. 1100. Teoþan [see TENTH B. 1 b].
c. 1440. Eng. Conq. Irel., 67. Euery crystyn man lawfully pay his thethis.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 46. Certen possessions, tethys, dewteys & othyr thynges.
1517. in 10th Rep. Hist. MS. Comm., App. V. 397. Every shippe … shall paye half tethes to the Colladge of all suche fishe as they shall take.
c. Variously qualified:
Agistment tithe, t. of agistment, see AGISTMENT 4; coarse t. = great t.; crying t., tithe of young livestock; great t., the chief predial tithes, as corn, hay, wood, and fruit; also called large t.; mixed t., see MIXED ppl. a. 11. and quots. there; parochial t., ? small or vicarial tithes; personal t., tithe of the produce of labor or occupation; petty t., privy t. = small t.; predial t., see PREDIAL a. 2 b, and quots. there; rectorial t., tithes pertaining to the rector of the parish, the great tithes; small t., such predial tithes as are not great tithes, together with the personal and mixed tithes; vicarial t., tithes pertaining to the vicar of the parish, the small tithes.
1464. [see PREDIAL a. 2 b].
1530, 1765. [see PRIVY a. 8].
1531, a. 1634, 1672. [see MIXED ppl. a. 11].
1531. Dial. on Laws Eng., II. lv. (1638), 169. Some … say there is no tith but it is either a prediall tith, or a personal tith.
1546. Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees), 228. The sayd incumbent hathe … all offerynges and pety tythes.
1589. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 51. For the smale or pryve tythes of Hetton iijl ijs vjd ob.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, ii. 106. Though it be the practice in setting out of Personal Tithes to separate the Charges from the Profits … yet there was never any such thing in predial Tithes.
1718. in Shropsh. Parish Doc. (1903), 19. The Vicar hath also all small Tythes as Hemp, Flax, Geese, Eggs, Piggs, Fruit and the Like.
1774. Ipswich Jrnl., 7 May, 1/2. A bill was filed some years ago … against six of the principal inhabitants and the impropriators of the great tithes, for the tithe of agistment of barren and unprofitable cattle.
1793. Blackstone, Comm. (ed. 12), I. xi. 387. The tithes of many things … are in some parishes rectorial, and in some vicarial tithes.
1813. T. N. Parker, in Gentl. Mag., May, 449/2. Aftermath (or a second mowing of a meadow in the same year) yields a great tithe, as turnips sown on a stubble yield a small tithe.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 1197. The late vicar … made certain compositions with his parishioners for the vicarial tithes, which were payable on the 29th September.
1861. Miall, Title Deeds Ch. Eng. (1862), 4. Parochial tithes constitute … the provision for the pecuniary support of the Church of England.
1862. Burton, Bk. Hunter (1863), 294. The Bishop of Lichfield … was Dean of Durham, and owner of the great tithes in the parish.
1889. Lipscomb, in Land Agent’s Record, 6 April, 316. In parishes where the great or rectorial tithes remain devoted to the Church, we find a rector and a rectory.
2. In more general sense: Any levy, tax, or tribute of one tenth. Saladin tithe: see Saladine tax (SALADINE a.).
1600. Holland, Livy, V. xxv. 196. As for the collation and gathering of a smal donative, rather than a tithe, he [Camillus] said nothing of it.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, II. xi. 64. To defray the expense of these and his other undertakings, he [Pisistratus] laid a tithe on the produce of the land.
1871. Dixon, Tower, III. xiii. 129. The admirals took tithe on every ship and cargo seized at sea.
3. A tenth part (of anything); = TENTH B. 1; now chiefly hyperbolical: a very small part.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VI. ccix. 223. He slewe alway .ix. and saued the .x. and yet … he eft agayne tythed agayne the sayd tythe, & slewe euery tenth knyght of theym.
1552. Huloet, Tythe or tenth part, decima.
1589. Nashe, in Greene’s Menaphon, Pref. (Arb.), 11. No Colledge in the Towne was able to compare with the tythe of her Students.
1648. Milton, Observ. Art Peace, Wks. 1851, IV. 576. These illiterate denouncers never parallel’d so much of any Age as would contribute to the tithe of a Century.
1772. Wilkes, Corr. (1805), IV. 107. A little parish church, with about a tythe of the people who frequent our chapel.
1776. Caledonian Mercury, 29 May, 1/1. Render it impossible for them [monopolizing booksellers] to rival, or even produce a tithe of the merit conspicuous in this work [Bell’s British Theatre].
1836. Sir W. Hamilton, Discuss. (1852), 341. A tythe of the agitation.
1838. Arnold, Hist. Rome, I. 45. The tithe of the spoil was forty talents of silver.
1848. Richter, Levana, 45. From a woodcut some thousand impressions may easily be taken; but from a copperplate only a tithe of that number.
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, xix. I cannot tell you a tithe of what he said.
4. attrib. and Comb. a. Due or paid as tithe. See also TITHE-PIG.
c. 1450. Godstow Reg., 318. Nicholas Iordan … paid … for the tythe hey, ij d. ob.
1455. Rolls of Parlt., V. 307/2. In recompense for the tithe veneson in the Forest of Wyndesore.
1555. W. Turner, Spir. Physic, 50 b. Wyth muche shame, they come wyth tythe pygges by theyr tayles, wyth tythe egges, and tythe hemp and flaxe.
1609. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 334. All the Tythe Grain, Hay, Wooll and Lamb.
1765. Museum Rust., III. li. 224. Let him by no means attempt to buy tythe barley, for that he is sure is mixed.
1808. Toller, Law of Tithes, v. (1816), 152. Tithe-ore is not due of common right, but by particular custom only.
b. Of or pertaining to tithes, as tithe-bill, -bond, -cause, -charge, claim, -commission, -map, -monger, -proprietor, -publican, -right, -system; objective, etc., as tithe-collector, -commutation, -farmer, -gatherer, -giving, -haling, -holder, -owner, -payer, -paying, -redemption, -stealer, -taker; tithe-free adj. See also TITHE-BARN, -MAN, -PROCTOR.
1736. Gentl. Mag., VI. 708. Debate concerning the Quakers *Tythe-Bill.
1666. Ormonde MSS., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 24. The said Henry kept *tyth bonds soe long by him that the debitors became insolvent.
1808. Toller, Law of Tithes, ix. (1816), 237. It also appeared by ancient *tithe-books of the parson.
1774. Ipswich Jrnl., 7 May, 1/2. On Thursday last final judgement was given in a great *tithe-cause, long depending in the court of Exchequer.
1845. M’Culloch, Taxation, II. iv. (1852), 185. The limitation of the *tithe-charge.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Tithe-collector, a receiver of tithes. *Tithe-commissioner,… one of a board authorized to arrange propositions for commuting or compounding for tithes.
1859. J. W. Rosse, Index of Dates, *Tithe Commutation Bill (England), introduced, Feb. 9; passed, Aug. 13, 1836.
1763. Derby Mercury, 22 July, 4/1. The *Tithe Farmers they use very ill; and I am told, this Day they drew Mr. Bell’s Son, a Tithe Farmer, three Times through a River with a Rope, and draged him to the Market-Cross in Dungannon, in order to hang him; but he took the Oath they administered to him, and so saved his Life.
1780. A. Young, Tour Irel., I. 217. These tythe farmers are a bad set of people.
1720. Lond. Gaz., No. 5829/3. An Estate…, well wooded, and *Tythe-free.
1591. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 66. Spente by the *tythe getherares, vd.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 433. When the state … permits the cultivators to become the prey of a tythe-gatherer, or loads them with the support of the poor.
a. 1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. xlviii. 386. The Edecimation and *Tith-haling of their Goods.
1785. Paley, Mor. Philos., VI. xi. 636. This commutation … might … secure to the *tithe-holder a complete and perpetual equivalent for his interest.
1910. Edin. Rev., Jan., 119. The *tithe-maps constructed on all sorts of scales.
1647. Husbandm. Plea agst. Tithes, 33. Calves, milk, lambe … and all other things that the *Tithe-mongers will have to be titheable.
1805. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 468. The *tithe-owner refused three guineas per acre for the tithe of the barley.
1621. Bp. Mountagu, Diatribæ, 315. Appointed for the Rendez-vous of Tithe-takers, and *Tithe-payers. Ibid., 185. In the matter of *Tithe-paying vnto the Priests of the Gospell.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., IV. iv. (1876), 578. It is quite possible that *tithe-proprietors may be ultimately injured by this commutation.
1657. J. Watts, Vind. Ch. Eng., 157. Forced to pay the same unto *Tythe-publicanes and Tol-gatherers.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. on Folly, P iij. How warlyke … the good vicares can strive for theyr *tytheright.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 112, ¶ 7. The ’Squire has made all his Tenants Atheists and *Tithe-Stealers.
1890. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 1 March, 2/4. The French-Canadians are beginning to rebel against the *tithe system, which, in the interest of the Catholic Church, takes a large portion of the farmers’ products.
