tithe

Etymology

From Middle English tithe, tythe, tethe, from Old English tēoþa, tēoða, teogoþa (in verb senses via Middle English tithen, tythen, tethen, from Old English tēoþian, teogoðian), from a proposed Proto-Germanic *tehunþô, *tehundô (“a tenth”), with its nasal consonant being lost according to the Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law. Cognate with West Frisian tsiende (“tithe”), Saterland Frisian Teeged (“tithe”), German Zehnt (“tithe”), Danish tiende (“tithe”), Icelandic tíund (“tithe”), Dutch tiende (“tithe”).

noun

1. (archaic) A tenth.
2. (historical) The tenth part of the increase arising from the profits of land and stock, allotted to the clergy for their support, as in England, or devoted to religious or charitable uses.
   For this is abundantly confuted by the Constitutions and Practice of these Christian States where Tithes have been variously settled, for maintenance of the Evangelical Priest-hood ; and other pious Uses, by legal and civil Tithes, which imply a Debitum Justitiæ. 1705, William Forbes, A Treatise of Church-lands & Tithes, page 284
3. A contribution to one's religious community or congregation of worship (notably to the LDS church).
4. A small part or proportion.

adj

1. (archaic) Tenth.

verb

1. To give one-tenth or a tithe of something
   1. (transitive) To pay something as a tithe.
      He teoðode gynd eall his cyne rice ðone teoðan del ealra his landa. 854, "Grant by Adulf" in Cartularium Saxonicum, Book ii, 79
      A reply sent to a young member by the sect's letter-answering department was more precise: ‘A person working for wages is to tithe one-tenth of the total amount of his wages before income tax, national health, or other deductions are removed.’ August 6 1967, Observer, section 4
   2. (transitive) To pay a tithe upon something.
      ...ge tiogoðiað eowre mintan & eowerne dile & eowerne kymen. c. 897, King Alfred translating St Gregory, Pastoral Care, Chapter lvii
      The maner of tiething pigge and gose is, yf one have vijᵗʰ, to pay one. 1562, F.J. Furnivall, editor, Child-marriages... in the Diocese of Chester A.D. 1561-6, page 138
      Here with the sacred money [Xenophon] built an altar and a temple, and ever after, year by year, tithed the fruits of the land in their season and did sacrifice to the goddess. 1901, Xenophon, translated by H.G. Dakyns, Anabasis, Book V, Chapter iii, §9
   3. (intransitive) To pay a tithe; to pay a 10% tax
      Þe prest þe meneȝeð rihtliche teðien. a. 1200, Trinity College Homilies, 215
      They went to the Six Hickories church—tithed—and behaved themselves. 1942 September, Esquire, page 174
   4. (intransitive, figurative) To pay or offer as a levy in the manner of a tithe or religious tax.
      These slaves are either the sonnes of Christians, tithed in their childhoods, Captives taken in the warres, or Renegadoes. 1630, Anonymous translation of Giovanni Botero, anonymously translated as Relations of the Most Famous Kingdomes and Common-wealths, p. 510
      Former Southern officers prospered and tithed up to 50 percent for Civil War II, which never came. June 20 1976, Billings Gazzette, C1
2. To take one-tenth or a tithe of something
   1. (transitive) To impose a tithe upon someone or something.
      Leeuy, that took tithis, is tithid. 1382, Wycliffite Bible, Hebrews 7:9
      The cost... has been defrayed by tithing the whole Mormon Church. Those who reside at Nauvoo... have been obliged to work every tenth day in quarrying stone. 1843, Frederick Marryat, chapter XI, in Narrative of the Travels and Adventures of Monsieur Violet, in California, Sonora, & Western Texas, volume III, page 212
   2. (transitive) To spare only every tenth person, killing the rest (usually in relation to the sacking of the episcopal seat at Canterbury by the pagan Danes in 1011).
      Þe folk of Crist was tiþed, þat is to seie, nyne slayn and þe tenþe i-kepte. 1387, Ranulf Higden, translated by John de Trevisa, Polychronicon, VII, 89
      The multitude are tith'd, and every tenth only spar'd. 1670, John Milton, The History of Britain, vi, 256
   3. (transitive) To enforce or collect a tithe upon someone or something.
      The Monkes the Priors and holy cloystred Nunnes, Are all in health,... 1591, The Troublesome Raigne of Iohn King of England, i, G
      When the parson or Procter commeth to tythe his wooll. a. 1642, Henry Best, The Farming and Memorandum Books of Henry Best of Elmswell, published 1984, page 26
   4. (transitive, obsolete) To decimate: to kill every tenth person, usually as a military punishment.
      By decimation, and a tithed death, / ... take thou the destin'd tenth 1606, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
      The Thebane Legion... was first tithed, that is, every tenth man thereof was executed. 1609, A. Marcellinus, translated by Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie, D, iii
      Keeping aliue... two principall persons, that they might be tithed with the soldiors... Every tenth man of the Normans they chose out by lot, to be executed. 1610, William Camden, translated by Philemon Holland, A Chorographicall Description of... England, Scotland, and Ireland, i, 705
   5. (intransitive) To enforce or collect a tithe.
      Those who tithe and toll upon them for their spiritual and temporal benefit. 1822, Thomas Love Peacock, chapter VI, in Maid Marian, page 210
3. (transitive, obsolete) To compose the tenth part of something.
   Her sorrowes did not tith her ioy. 1586, William Warner, Albions England: A Continued Historie, i, v, 15