tributary
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English
Etymology
| PIE word |
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| *tréyes |
From Middle English tributarie (“paying tribute”), from Latin tribūtārius, from tribūtum (“tribute”).
Pronunciation
Noun
tributary (plural tributaries)
- (hydrology) A natural water stream that flows into a larger river or other body of water.
- Synonym: affluent
- Antonym: distributary
- (anatomy) A vein which drains into another vein.
- The great saphenous vein is a tributary of the femoral vein.
- A nation, state, or other entity that pays tribute.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 259, column 2:
- An earneſt Coniuration from the King, / As England was his faithfull Tributary
Related terms
Translations
stream which flows into a larger one
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nation, state etc.
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Adjective
tributary (not comparable)
- Related to the paying of tribute.
- subordinate; inferior
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: , London: [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, , published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
- to grace his tributary gods
- Yielding supplies of any kind; serving to form or make up, a greater object of the same kind, as a part, branch, etc.; contributing.
- The Ohio has many tributary streams, and is itself tributary to the Mississippi.