Tithe (?), n. [OE. tithe, tethe, properly an adj., tenth, AS. teoa the tenth; akin to ti'en, tn, t�xc7;n, ten, G. zehnte, adj., tenth, n., a tithe, Icel. tiund the tenth; tithe, Goth. ta�xa1;hunda tenth. See Ten, and cf. Tenth, Teind.]
1.
A tenth; the tenth part of anything; specifically, the tenthpart 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. Almost all the tithes of England and Wales are commuted by law into rent charges.
The tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil.
Neh. xiii. 5.
⇒ Tithes are called personal when accuring from labor, art, trade, and navigation; predial, when issuing from the earth, as hay, wood, and fruit; and mixed, when accuring from beaste fed from the ground.
Blackstone.
2.
Hence, a small part or proportion.
Bacon.
Great tithes, tithes of corn, hay, and wood. -- Mixed tithes, tithes of wool, milk, pigs, etc. -- Small tithes, personal and mixed tithes. -- Tithe commissioner, one of a board of officers appointed by the government for arranging propositions for commuting, or compounding for, tithes. [Eng.] Simmonds.
© Webster 1913.
Tithe, a.
Tenth.
[Obs.]
Every tithe soul, 'mongst many thousand.
Shak.
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Tithe, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tithed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Tithing.] [As. teoian.]
To levy a tenth part on; to tax to the amount of a tenth; to pay tithes on.
Ye tithe mint and rue.
Luke xi. 42.
© Webster 1913.
Tithe, v. i.
Tp pay tithes.
[R.]
Tusser.
© Webster 1913.