Also 2–7 tol, 5–7 tolle, tole, (5–6 towl(e, 6 toulo, towlle, Sc. toille, 7 toal(l, toale; 4 tholle, 5–6 tholl, 5 (7 Sc.) thoill, 6–7 thole); the th-forms chiefly in Latin context. [OE. toll = OFris., OS. tol (MLG., LG., MDu., Du. tol), OHG., MHG. zol (Ger. zoll); ON. tollr (Sw. tull, Da. told), all masc., which with their by-forms, OE. toln, OFris. tol(e)ne, OS. tolna, all fem. (see TOLNE), are generally referred to late pop.L. tolōneum (recorded in 3–4th c.) for L. telōnium, a. Gr. τελώνιον place of custom, toll-house, f. τελώνης farmer or collector of taxes, τέλος toll, tax, duty.
The form-history is in some points obscure, and some etymologists have sought to derive toll from an OTeut. *tulno-, pa. pple. of *tal-, root of TELL v. and of TALE. The derivation from Latin is supported by French, in which teloneum, becoming by metathesis *toneleum, has given mod.F. tonlieu, Prov. tolieu ‘toll.’]
1. Orig., a general term for (a) a definite payment exacted by a king, ruler, or lord, or by the state or the local authority, by virtue of sovereignty or lordship, or in return for protection; more especially, (b) for permission to pass somewhere, do some act, or perform some function; or (c) as a share of the money passing, or profit accruing, in a transaction; a tax, tribute, impost, custom, duty. In (a) obs. exc. Hist.; in (b) retained in special senses (see 2); in (c) still in vague or rhetorical use: see quots. 1832–1909.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xvii. 25. Hwæt þineð þe symon, æt hwam nymað cyningas gafol oððe toll?
1050–1100. in Earle, Land Charters, 273. Æilsiʓ bohte anne wifmann … & hire sunu … mid healfe punde … & sealde Æilsiʓ portʓereua[n] et Maccosse hundredes mann iiii. penʓas to tolle.
a. 1100. Aldhelm Glosses, I. 1455, in Napier, O. E. Glosses, 39. Fiscale tributum, cynelic toll.
a. 1100. O. E. Chron., an. 1086 (Laud MS.). Hy arerdon unrihte tollas, and maniʓe oðre unrihte hi dydan.
c. 1100. in Earle, Land Ch., 262. Her kyð on þissere boc ꝥ Leowine … & his wif ʓebohton Ælfilde … to feower & sixtuʓe peneʓon, & Ælfric Hals nam ꝥ toll … for þæs kynges hand.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28438 (Cott.). Toll and tak, and rent o syse, Wit-halden i haue wit couettise.
13[?]. K. Alis., 1760 (Bodl. MS.). Þat ich shal of olde & ȝonge Of þis midlerde tol afonge.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, x. (Mathou), 549. Þis mathow … wes tollar, and toll tuke.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. I. 98. Boxes … I-bounden with yre, To vnder-take þe tol [v.rr. tolle, tool] of vntrewe sacrifice.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xiii. 149. The tolle & the custom of his [Emperor of Persia’s] marchantes is with outen estymacyoun to ben nombred.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 495/2. Tol, or custome, guidagia,… petagium, toloneum.
1483. Cath. Angl., 389/2. A Tolle,… talliagium.
1485. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 345/2. The Graunte of the Tolle of oure Towne of Knyghton.
1535. Coverdale, Ezra iv. 13. Then shal not they geue tribute, toll, and yearly custome.
1570. Levins, Manip., 218/17. Toule, census.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 276. These Publicanes were such as liued vppon the publique toll and customes which they had farmed at the Romanes hands.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xix. 438. Hereby the same commodity must pay a new tole at every passage into a new trade.
1832. Tennyson, Œnone, 114. ‘Honour,’ she said, ‘and homage, tax and toll, From many an inland town and haven large.’
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. II. 445. All fines, all forfeitures went to Sunderland. On every grant toll was paid to him.
1895. Pollock & Maitland, Hist. Eng. Law, I. 648. A large part of the borough’s revenue was derived from tolls, if we use that term in its largest sense to include ‘passage, pontage, lastage, stallage, bothage, ewage, tronage, scavage’ and the like.
1909. Daily News, 14 Sept., 4/2. Sir William Harcourt wished to establish the rule that property should pay toll once every generation, and he succeeded in establishing it.
† b. The taking of toll or tribute; the office of a tax-collector. Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 288. Oðer [is] þæt man ðurh toll feoh ʓegadriʓe. Ibid., 468. Matheus aras þærrihte fram his tolle, and filiʓde ðam Hælende. Ibid. He hine ʓeseah sittan æt tolle.
c. In the obsolete law phrase sac and sóc, toll and team, etc. (see SAC, TEAM sb. 8 b, c): The right to ‘toll’ included (among others) in the grant of a manor by the crown; see quot. 1895.
1017–1118. [see TEAM sb. 8 b].
1130–5. Laws Edw. Conf., c. 22 § 2. Tol, quod nos vocamus theloneum, scilicet libertatem emendi et vendendi in terra sua.
c. 1250. Expos. Vocab., in Placita de Quo Warranto, 511. Tol … pro voluntate sua tallagium de villanis suis.
a. 1400. Reg. Maj., I. c. 2 in Acts Parl. Scot. (1844), I. 598/1. Qui habent et tenent terras suas cum soko et sako, furca et fossa, toll et them, et infangandthefe.
1456. [see TEAM sb. 8 d].
1597. Skene, De Verb. Sign., s.v., He quha is infeft with Toll, is custome free, and payis na custome.
1607. Cowell, Interpr., Toll, alias Tholl … hath in our common lawe two significations: First it is vsed for a libertie to buy and sell within the precincts of a maner…. Bracton … interpreteth [it] to be a libertie as well to take as to be free from Tolle.
1818. Hallam, Mid. Ages, viii. I. II. 156. A charter of Edred grants to the monastery of Croyland soc, sac, toll, team and infangthef.
1871. [see TEAM sb. 8 b].
1895. Pollock & Maitland, Hist. Eng. Law, I. 566. Toll is sometimes the right to take toll, sometimes the right to be free of toll; but often it is merely the right to tallage one’s villeins.
2. spec. uses. a. A charge made for some service rendered: † (a) for passage in a ship, fare. Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xxx. 168. Þa … þæs scypes hlaford … ʓyrnde þæs scyp-tolles, ac ða hi nan þincg næfdon to syllanne, þa ʓyrnde he þæs wifes for þam tolle.
(b) A proportion of the grain or flour taken by the miller in payment for grinding. ? Obs. or dial.
c. 1386. [implied in TOLL v.2 1].
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 496/1. Tol, of myllarys, multa.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 146. Mete it to the myll & fro the myll, & se yt thou haue thy measure agayne besyde the toll.
1589. [see TOLBOT].
1638. Penkethman, Artach., G iv. If the Baker buy corne unground by the Quarter … he hath 68 l. Troy to the bushell, and is to pay the Millers tolle.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Toll,… the quantity of meal kept by the miller for grinding another’s corn.
† b. Rent paid for a house, mill, etc. Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives, xix. 253. Hit ne ʓedafnað þæt man do godes hus anre mylne ʓelic for lyðrum tolle.
c. A charge for the privilege of bringing goods for sale to a market or fair, or of setting up a stall.
c. 1205. Lay., 13316. Her beoð chæpmen icumen of oðere londen … Heo habbeoð ibroht to me tol for heore æhte.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg., 10. Be quyte in all mercates of tol i-axid of thynges i-bowghte or solde.
1500. Reg. Privy Seal Scotl., I. 68/1. That the said erle … have tholl and uther small custumez of the fairis.
1567. Expos. Termes of Law (1579), 178 b/2. Tolle or Tolne, is most properlye a payment vsed in Cities, townes, markets & faires for goods and cattel brought thither to bee bought & solde.
1587. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 41. Foure oxen in Prestone xjli xvs iiijd; towlle for the said besste, viijd.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), III. 273. Toll is not of right incident to a fair or market, and can only be claimed by special grant from the Crown, or by prescription; and if the toll be unreasonable, the grant will be void.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., II. vii. (1876), 614. A market toll is paid for the accommodation which a market provides.
d. A charge for the right of passage along a road (at a turnpike or toll-gate: now abolished in Great Britain), along a river or channel, over a bridge or ferry; formerly also, through the gate or door of a building.
1477–8. Acc. Exch. K. R., Bundle 496 No. 17 (P.R.O.). Omnes summas monete … vel Toles pro dictis edificacionibus … solutas pro cariagio petrarum maeremii … per terram vel per aquam.
1498. Coventry Leet Bk., 592. Howe the Citezenis or Couentre were trobled be there merchandisez in Bristol, Gloucestre, & Worcestre & compelled to pay tholl & oþer customez contrarie to their liberteez.
1505. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 603. Exceptis theoloneo finis pontis, viz. le tholl de le Brig-and de Are.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 203 b. In this yere was an olde Tolle demaunded in Flaunders of Englysh men, called the Tolle of the Hounde, which is a Ryuer and a passage. The Tolle is .xii. pence of a Fardell.
1604. Drayton, Owle, 386. At his entrance he must pay them Tole.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 56. Here those which carried any merchandise paid tole.
1634. Althorp MS., in Simpkinson, Washingtons (1860), App. p. xiv. For toale at Thrapston bridge 00 00 02.
1663. Act 15 Chas. II., c. 1 § 5. Summes of money in the name of Toll or Custome, to be paid for all such Horses, Carts, Coaches, Waggons, Droves, and Gangs of Cattell, as … shall passe, bee ledd, or droven, in or through the said waye.
1838. Murray’s Hand-bk. N. Germ., 254/1. A toll is here paid by all vessels navigating the Rhine, to the Duke of Nassau, the only chieftain remaining on the river who still exercises this feudal privilege.
1840. Howitt, Visits Remark. Places, Ser. I. 234. The tolls at the doors of St. Paul’s and the Tower have been relaxed.
1845. M’Culloch, Taxation, Introd. (1852), 33. The statute … imposed tolls, or duties collected at toll gates (called turnpikes), on all travellers along the great north road.
1883. ‘Ouida,’ Wanda, I. 61. With a right to take toll on the ferry.
e. A charge for the right of landing or shipping goods at a port; formerly also, a customs duty. Obs. exc. Hist.
1680. Morden, Geog. Rect., Germ. (1685), 132. The place where Ships pay Tole.
1884. S. Dowell, Taxes in Eng., I. IV. v. 83. Of wine, a toll in the strictest sense of the term was taken by the king’s officer from every ship having in cargo ten casks or more, on the arrival of the ship at a port in England…, unless the toll formed the subject of a composition in the way of a money payment.
f. A charge made for transport of goods, esp. by railway or canal. (Arising out of d.)
1889. Standard, 21 March. Railway projectors were empowered to charge ‘tolls,’ not exceeding a specified sum, for the use of their roads. Out of these ‘tolls’ rates were, in a manner, evolved, covering every service.
g. fig. (Cf. tribute, similarly used.)
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xlii. (Agatha), 256. Þane bad he … brynnand cole Straw in þe floure … & nakyt þare-one hire rol, Til scho of ded had quyt þe tol.
a. 1882. Rossetti, Ho. Life, Introd. Sonn. [Whether] In Charm’s palm it pay the toll to Death.
1909. Blackw. Mag., July, 19/2. Nott’s gallant division … paid its toll of killed and wounded.
h. with defining words: through toll (also toll through, thorough), toll traverse, turn toll (also toll turn): see quots.
1567. Expos. Termes of Law (1579), 179/1. Through tolle, is where a Towne prescribes to haue tol for euery beast that goeth through their Towne. Ibid., Tolle trauers, that is where one claimeth to haue a halfepeny, or such like toll of euery beast that is driuen ouer his ground. Ibid., Turne tolle … is where toll is paied for beasts that are dryuen to bee solde, although that they bee not solde.
1636. Prynne, Rem. agst. Shipmoney, 8. This Tax … layes a farre greater charge on the Subject then any new office, Murage, Toll-travers, or thorough-toll.
1670. Blount, Law Dict., s.v., Toll-through … Toll-travers...; and Toll-turn, which is Toll paid at the return of Beasts from Fair or Market, though they were not sold.
1827. Mackenzie, Hist. Newcastle, II. 649. The claim of toll thorough … is made by the corporation upon all goods … of non-freemen, brought into or carried out of the town.
1911. G. R. Hill, in Halsbury, Laws Eng., XVI. 62. A toll-thorough is independent of any ownership of the soil by the original grantee, the consideration necessary to support it being usually the liability to repair the particular highway or bridge. Ibid. A toll-traverse is a toll taken in respect of the original ownership of the land crossed by the public.
3. attrib. and Comb.: toll-bar [BAR sb.1], a barrier (usually a gate) across a road or bridge, where toll is taken; in Scotland formerly often applied to the toll-collector’s house; † toll-bell, a bell rung at the close of the collection of toll at a market; toll-bridge, a bridge at which toll is charged for passage; toll-clerk, a clerk who keeps a record of tolls collected, e.g., at a market; toll-collector, (a) a person who collects toll, esp. the tolls at a turnpike, a market, etc.; (b) a device for indicating the number of persons passing a turnstile or gate and paying toll; (c) a device in the feeder of a mill for separating the toll of grain; toll-corn, corn retained by a miller as toll; † toll-cote, a toll-collector’s cottage or shed; † toll-customer [CUSTOMER sb. 2], a toll- or tax-gatherer; toll-farmer, one who farms the tolls at a certain place; = FARMER2 1; † toll-fat, ? a vessel for toll-corn (in quot. 1222 a measure of capacity); toll-gate, a gate across a road at which toll was payable, a turnpike-gate; † toll-hall, ? = TOLBOOTH 2, guildhall, town hall; † toll-hoop [HOOP sb.1 5] = TOLL-DISH; toll-keeper, the keeper of a toll-gate or toll-house; toll-lodge = TOLL-HOUSE 2; † toll-master, the master of a toll-office; † toll mere [MERE sb.2], the boundary within which a local toll is payable; toll-office, an office where toll is taken; toll penny, a penny paid or charged as toll; † toll-pin, (?) a cylindrical stick used as a strake for the toll-dish; † toll-reeve, an officer to whom tolls were payable; toll-road, a road maintained by tolls, a turnpike road (Sc. and U.S.); toll-room, a room or apartment where tolls are collected, as at a turnpike; † toll-shop = TOLL-HOUSE 2; † toll-stock (tolstok), ? = toll-pin; toll-table, a table of the toll-dues at a turnpike; toll-taker, one who takes tolls; a toll-collector, toll-gatherer; so toll-taking sb. and adj. See also TOLL-BOOK, -DISH, etc.
1813. Examiner, 19 April, 243/1. The only light … was that shed by the *toll-bar lamp.
1825. Jamieson, Toll-bar, a turnpike. [Toll-bar in Calr. Ing. P. M., V. 389, in a docmt. of 1315 is a misreading.]
1858. Surtees, Ask Mamma, lxxvii. [He] trotted across the bridge,… and was speedily brought up at a toll-bar on the far side.
1736. Drake, Eboracum, I. vi. 219. No corn to be carried out of this market till the toll be gathered, and that the *toll-bell be rung.
1790. Luckombe, Eng. Gaz., III. Sheperton … has a *toll-bridge over the Thames to Walton.
1878. Braithwaite, Life & Lett. W. Pennefather, xi. 245. A young man who had been long employed as *toll-clerk.
1887. Pall Mall G., 25 Jan., 6/2. The toll clerk of Billingsgate Market.
1822. Act 3 Geo. IV., c. 126. § 22. If the Owner or Driver of any Waggon … shall resist any Gate Keeper or *Toll Collector, in weighing the same,… [he] shall forfeit and pay … Five Pounds.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Toll-collector. 1. A counter at a turnstile or gate to indicate the number of persons passing. 2. A device attached to the feed of a grain-mill to subtract the toll.
1903. H. B. Swete, in Expositor, Aug., 196. The rich and well-hated chief of the Jericho toll-collectors.
12[?]. Reading Cartul. (Harl. MS. 1703, lf. 107). Ego Willelmus babbe dedi … abbati et conuentui de Radinges vnam dimidiam summam bladi, scilicet de *tolcorn de molendino de Homstalle.
1701. Cowell’s Interpr., Tolcorn, Corn taken for Toll at grinding in a Mill.
c. 1460. Play Sacram., 540. Inquyre to þe *Tolkote, for ther ys hys loggyng.
a. 1681. Wharton, Fasts & Fest., Wks. (1683), 26. Saint Matthew, who being … a Publican or *Toll-customer by Profession, became a Disciple, an Apostle, an Evangelist, and Martyr.
1553. Grimalde, Cicero’s Offices, I. (1558), 66. The gayne of *tolfarmers and misers.
1804. Jackson’s Oxford Jrnl., 28 July, 2/3. The Toll Farmers of the Turnpikes throughout Middlesex pour forth daily blessings on both candidates, for compelling them, in conformity to the Statute, to throw open all their gates to passengers toll-free.
1820. W. Tooke, trans. Lucian, I. 469. Murderers, adulterers, toll-farmers,… and others of the same pack.
[1222. in J. Thorpe, Registrum Roffense (1769), 369. xvj *tolfata faciunt unum quarterium salis.]
1547. in J. H. Glover, Kingsthorpiana (1883), 93. That all thos persones that have quernes shall suffer noe body to grynde theirat above a Tolfatt, upon payn for every Tolfatt more then their owne … iiid.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 441/1. They … shall pass upon any turnpike road, through any *toll-gate or bar, for half-toll.
1774. Johnson, Journ. West. Isl., Wks. 1787, X. 17. It affords a southern stranger a new kind of pleasure to travel so commodiously without the interruption of toll-gates.
1884. Pae, Eustace, 95. The toll-gate was closed, but he vaulted over it.
1395. in Cart. Abb. Whitby (Surtees), II. 555. De *tolale de Hakeness v s.
1416–7. Durham Acc. Rolls, 285. viij s. x d. de profect. curiæ et tolhale villæ de Hett.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., II. 23/1. Skinners rew reaching from the pillorie to the tolehall, or to the high crosse.
c. 1270. Customs Gt. Farringdon (MS. Barlow 49, lf. 22 b). De consuetudine mercati … pro carectata salis dabitur vnus discus salis, qui continere debet unum *tolhop, uel vnus denarius.
1701. Cowell’s Interpr., Tol-hop, a Toll-dish, or small Measure by which they take Toll for Corn sold in an overt Market.
1822. Act 3 Geo. IV., c. 126 § 22, margin. *Toll keepers permitting Waggons, &c. of greater Weight than allowed, to pass without Toll. Penalty 5 l.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, iii. He … had cried a lusty ‘good-night,’ to the toll-keeper.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., III. i. (1872). I. 139. [They] continued their feuds, *toll-levyings, plunderings, and other contumacies.
1818–9. Leigh, New Pict. Lond., 313. The four *toll-lodges are neat doric structures.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Hist. Jas. IV., Wks. (1711), 70. These projectors and new *toll-masters, the king giving way to enrich his exchequer, awakened them [old laws].
1500. Nottingham Rec., III. 450. Every shipp sayling with merchandise within the *toll meres.
1765. Public Advertiser (Lond.), 11 June, 2/3. One of the Toll-Takers at Vauxhall Turnpike was assaulted in a violent Manner by some Fellows, who attempted to knock him down, and to take the *Toll Money from him.
1841. Pusey, trans. Aquinas’ Comm. Matt., I. 94. He found a man sitting at the *toll-office.
1520. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (1880), 24. No person shall pay toll for his Catell … but only a *toll peny … if any catell be sold.
1623. Fletcher & Rowley, Maid in Mill, III. i. The Miller has a stout heart Tough as his *toal-pin.
1433. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 477/2. *Tollereves, to resceyve the Toll and … Custumes. Ibid. (1444), V. 124/1. Tolreves to resceyve and gedre the tolle, and such custumes as longeth to hem to take at the Yates of the seid Toun.
1825. Jamieson, *Toll-road, a turnpike road.
1883. Stevenson, Silverado Sq., 70. A dry water-course entered the Toll Road.
1749. in Feret, Fulham (1900), I. 63. Paid for Whitewashing the offices and *Toll Room 5s.
1789. Brand, Hist. Newcastle, I. 53. No houses, except *toll shops, were to be erected on the new bridge.
1316–7. Chester Plea Roll, 9 & 10. Edw. II. m. 35. None partis cuiusdain proficui prouenientis del *Tolstok.
1806. Chron. in Ann. Reg., 405/1. The *toll-table, against the turn-pike house, at Whalley, in Yorkshire.
1555. Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary, c. 7 § 4. The open Place appointed for the *Toll-Taker.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Luke iii. 12. These [publicans] were toll-takers, custom-gatherers for the Romans.
1882. Mozley, Remin., I. iv. 30. A quaint little church. adjoining the toll-taker’s shed.
1611. Cotgr., Peagerie, *Toll-taking.
