tribute

[trib-yoot] /ˈtrɪb yut/
noun
1.
a gift, testimonial, compliment, or the like, given as due or in acknowledgment of gratitude or esteem.
2.
a stated sum or other valuable consideration paid by one sovereign or state to another in acknowledgment of subjugation or as the price of peace, security, protection, or the like.
3.
a rent, tax, or the like, as that paid by a subject to a sovereign.
4.
any exacted or enforced payment or contribution.
5.
obligation or liability to make such payment.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English tribut < Latin tribūtum a levied payment, noun use of neuter of past participle of tribuere to assign, allot, derivative of tribus tribe
Synonyms
1. recognition, commendation, eulogy. 4. levy, toll, impost, duty.
Examples from the web for tribute
  • But the entire final segment of the show was a long tribute to a deceased academic.
  • Universities should also pay tribute to faculty members who are successful at nurturing diverse ideas and student involvement.
  • Only now are efforts under way to pay him fitting tribute in the city in which he lived and worked all his adult life.
  • It is a uniquely naïve tribute to mutual ministration.
  • But sometimes one city would establish an ascendancy over others and exact tribute from their population.
  • References are a natural way for writers to pay tribute to peers and predecessors.
  • Nothing in the way of a salute to his contributions or a tribute to his life's work and accomplishments.
  • Instead, they so often seem to be intended as triggers for conversation or canvases of tribute and celebration.
  • It's a tribute to the art of investigative journalism and it sets an incredibly high benchmark for future non-fiction writing.
  • The result, including works never seen by modern scholars, is a dazzling tribute to one of the world's great civilizations.
British Dictionary definitions for tribute

tribute

/ˈtrɪbjuːt/
noun
1.
a gift or statement made in acknowledgment, gratitude, or admiration
2.
  1. a payment by one ruler or state to another, usually as an acknowledgment of submission
  2. any tax levied for such a payment
3.
(in feudal society) homage or a payment rendered by a vassal to his lord
4.
the obligation to pay tribute
Word Origin
C14: from Latin tribūtum, from tribuere to grant (originally: to distribute among the tribes), from tribustribe
Word Origin and History for tribute
n.

mid-14c., "tax paid to a ruler or master for security or protection," from Latin tributum "tribute," literally "a thing contributed or paid," noun use of tributus, neuter past participle of tribuere "to pay, assign, grant," also "allot among the tribes or to a tribe," from tribus (see tribe). Sense of "offering, gift, token" is first recorded 1580s.

tribute in the Bible

a tax imposed by a king on his subjects (2 Sam. 20:24; 1 Kings 4:6; Rom. 13:6). In Matt. 17:24-27 the word denotes the temple rate (the "didrachma," the "half-shekel," as rendered by the R.V.) which was required to be paid for the support of the temple by every Jew above twenty years of age (Ex. 30:12; 2 Kings 12:4; 2 Chr. 24:6, 9). It was not a civil but a religious tax. In Matt. 22:17, Mark 12:14, Luke 20:22, the word may be interpreted as denoting the capitation tax which the Romans imposed on the Jewish people. It may, however, be legitimately regarded as denoting any tax whatever imposed by a foreign power on the people of Israel. The "tribute money" shown to our Lord (Matt. 22:19) was the denarius, bearing Caesar's superscription. It was the tax paid by every Jew to the Romans. (See PENNY.)