tax Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun charge against a citizen's person or property or activity for the support of government
    revenue enhancement; taxation.
  2. verb levy a tax on
    • The State taxes alcohol heavily
    • Clothing is not taxed in our state
  3. verb set or determine the amount of (a payment such as a fine)
    assess.
  4. verb use to the limit
    task.
    • you are taxing my patience
  5. verb make a charge against or accuse
    • They taxed him failure to appear in court

WordNet

Tax noun
Etymology
F. taxe, fr. taxer to tax, L. taxare to touch, sharply, to feel, handle, to censure, value, estimate, fr. tangere, tactum, to touch. See Tangent, and cf. Task, Taste.
Definitions
  1. A charge, especially a pecuniary burden which is imposed by authority. Specifically: -- (a) A charge or burden laid upon persons or property for the support of a government.
    A farmer of taxes is, of all creditors, proverbially the most rapacious. Macaulay.
    (b) Especially, the sum laid upon specific things, as upon polls, lands, houses, income, etc.; as, a land tax; a window tax; a tax on carriages, and the like. Taxes are annual or perpetual, direct or indirect, etc. (c) A sum imposed or levied upon the members of a society to defray its expenses.
  2. A task exacted from one who is under control; a contribution or service, the rendering of which is imposed upon a subject.
  3. A disagreeable or burdensome duty or charge; as, a heavy tax on time or health.
  4. Charge; censure. Obs. Clarendon.
  5. A lesson to be learned; a task. Obs. Johnson. Syn. -- Impost; tribute; contribution; duty; toll; rate; assessment; exaction; custom; demand.
Tax transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. taxer. See Tax, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Taxed ; present participle & verbal noun Taxing
Definitions
  1. To subject to the payment of a tax or taxes; to impose a tax upon; to lay a burden upon; especially, to exact money from for the support of government.
    We are more heavily taxed by our idleness, pride, and folly than we are taxed by government. Franklin.
  2. (Law) To assess, fix, or determine judicially, the amount of; as, to tax the cost of an action in court.
  3. To charge; to accuse; also, to censure; -- often followed by with, rarely by of before an indirect object; as, to tax a man with pride.
    I tax you, you elements, with unkindness. Shak.
    Men's virtues I have commended as freely as I have taxed their crimes. Dryden.
    Fear not now that men should tax thine honor. M. Arnold.

Webster 1913