From the
1755 edition of
my Dictionary :
EXCI'SE n. s. [accijs, Dutch; excisum, Latin.]
A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.
The people should pay a ratable tax for their sheep, and
an excise for everything which they should eat.
--- Hayward
Ambitious now to take excise
Of a more fragrant paradise.
--- Cleveland
Excise
With hundred rows of teeth, the shark exceeds,
And on all trades like Cassawar she feeds.
--- Marvel
Can hire large houses, and oppress the poor,
By farm'd excise
--- Dryden's Juvenal, Sat. 3.
T
o E
xci'se. v. a. #91;from the noun.] To
levy excise upon a person or thing.
In South-sea days, not happier when surmis'd
The lord of thousands, than if now excis'd.
--- Pope's Horace