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maletote. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
maletote, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
maletote in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
maletote you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English maltode, from Anglo-Norman maltolt (“unjust tax”), from Medieval Latin malatolta, from mala (“evil”) + tolta (“tax”), the latter from tollīta (“raised”), used in Medieval Latin as past participle of Classical Latin tollō.
Pronunciation
Noun
maletote (plural maletotes)
- (historical, originally derogatory) An arbitrary tax; in particular, a levy imposed by the English monarch on a certain good beyond ordinary customs duties.
1641, William Hakewil[l], The Libertie of the Subject: Against the Pretended Power of Impositions , page 54:Immediately hereupon, even this very yeere, was this complained of in Parliament, and a Petition exibited by the Lords and Cõmons, that it might be enacted, that this Maletolt or Imposition, because it was taken without assent of Parliament, might be taken away, and that a Law might be made, that no such charge might be laid, but by assent of Parliament: […]
1885, Hubert Hall, A History of the Custom-Revenue in England , volume 2, page 170:The occurrence of a Maltolte in history is of necessity limited to a somewhat brief period.
1918, Frederic Richard Barnes, “The Taxation of Wool, 1327–1348”, in George Unwin, editor, Finance and Trade Under Edward III, page 143:The king certainly acted illegally in some way or other, for the Parliament of 1339 declared that he was levying a maletote which it had never sanctioned.
2000, R. R. Davies, The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles, 1093–1343, →ISBN, page 28:[…] Scots soon learned that the maltolte on wool exports and later the new custom on alien merchants were to apply exactly in their country as in England; […]
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