subsidy

subsidy, n.
  (ˈsʌbsɪdɪ)
  Also 4–7 subsidie, 5 -sidee, -sydye, 5–6 -sidye, 5–7 -sedye, 6 subsedy, -sydy, -sidey, -sidwe (?).
  [a. AF. subsidie = OF. (and AF.) subside, ad. L. subsidium. Cf. Pr. subsidi, It. sussidio, Sp., Pg. subsidio.]
  1. Help, aid, assistance. Also with a and pl. Obs. or arch.

1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 469 Everych [element of the body] schulde..ȝeve us special helpe and subsidie by his owne dispensacioun. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 189 A thowmbe in the ryȝhte foote of Pyrrhus kynge, the towchenge of whom ȝafe subsidy ageyne venom. 1492 Ryman Poems lxxxi. 3 in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXIX. 250 Petir and Paule and seintis alle..For subsidie to you we calle. ? 1533 Frith (title) An other boke against Rastel named the subsedye or bulwark to his fyrst boke. 1553 Latimer Serm. Lord's Prayer vii. (1562) 53 [45] To cry vnto god..for a subsidie against this..enemy. 1557 Paynell Barclay's Jugurth 52 On the right winge..he ordeyned as it were a forward enforced with a threfold subsidie or socour. 1639 Fuller Holy War iv. viii. 180 Before he began his voyage he craved a subsidie of prayers from the Monks of S. Albanes. 1675 Alsop Anti-Sozzo iii. §2. 203 It's a very Ruful cause that needs such Subsidies to maintain it. 1830 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1853) 68 Dr. Brown..rejects as unphilosophical, those hyperphysical subsidies.

  2. Eng. Hist. A pecuniary aid granted by parliament to the sovereign to meet special needs.
  In the 14th and 15th centuries the term (occurring, in the AF. form subside, in 1340 Rolls Parlt. II. 112/2, 117/1, 1353 27 Edw. III stat. i. c. 4, 1382 5 Rich. II stat. ii. c. 3) was applied mainly to the taxes on cloth, wool, leather, and skins, and the duties of tonnage and poundage. In Tudor times it was applied pre-eminently to a tax of 4s. in the pound on lands and 2s. 8d. in the pound on movables. Its application to tonnage and poundage was continued in acts of parliament until 1707 Act 6 Anne c. 48. In 1698 an increased percentage of duty charged upon certain articles was known as the New Subsidy.
  The term has been extended by legal and historical writers to the aids derived from the tenth, the fifteenth, and other sources. The old lawyers, e.g. Coke, term the duties on wool, skins, and leather, ‘perpetual’ subsidies, the others being classed as ‘temporary’.
  † book of subsidy = subsidy-book (see 4).

c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 103 Whanne þe kyng & lordis axeden of grete prelatis subsidies & dymes for here temperaltes. 1422 [see tonnage n. 1]. 1422 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 173/2 The forsaid pouere Commens..graunton to oure said Lord the Kyng..a subsidie of xxxiii s. iiii d...of every sak weight of Wolle, and of every ccxl. of Wolle felle. 1425 Ibid. 289/2 With oute any subsidee payng for the same [sc. Wool]. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vi. (1885) 122 The kynge hath therfore þe subsidie off pondage and tonnage. 1544 Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading (ed. Nash) 70 To the kynges collectors for the subsidie ixs iiij{supd}. c 1550 Disc. Common Weal Eng. (1893) 55 Which..myght releue them [sc. breeders of wool] of theire subsidwes. 1571 Acts Privy Council VIII. 29 The assessing and taxing of the first payment of the Subsedye graunted by the Layetie at the last Parliament. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. ii. ii. (1588) 109 Such as have their names registred in the Booke of Subsidie. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 25 He that made vs pay one and twenty Fifteenes, and one shilling to the pound, the last Subsidie. 1603–4 Act 1 Jas. I, c. 33 §2 Except and foreprised out of this Graunt of Subsidie & of Poundage, All maner of Woollen Cloth made or wrought. 1604 Proclam. in Rates of Marchandizes (c 1610) 5 Queene Mary..did..assesse vpon Clothes carried out of this Realme by way of Marchandize, a certaine rate for the Custome and Subsidie of them. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §8 There was a mention..of granting five Subsidies, a proportion..scarce ever before heard of in Parliament. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4 A Subsidy granted to the King of Tonnage and Poundage and other summes of Money payable upon Merchandize Exported and Imported. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 11 May 1671, The subsidie now given by Parliament to his Majesty. 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6366/2 All Goods..which shall have remained in His Majesty's Warehouse for Security of the Duties Twelve Months, the Subsidies and Duties not paid. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., In the List of English Duties, or Impositions, are divers Kinds of Subsidies: Old Subsidy, Additional Imposition to the old Subsidy. New Subsidy, third Subsidy; Two-thirds Subsidy. 1845 M{supc}Culloch Taxation ii. vi. (1852) 235 The new subsidy, granted in the reign of William III, was an addition of 5 per cent. to the duties on most imported commodities. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §5 (1882) 395 The perils of her reign drove her [Elizabeth] at rare intervals to the demand of a subsidy. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiii. 181 In those days a subsidy took the form of a feudal grant.

  b. transf. A pecuniary aid exacted by a prince, lord, etc.

a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 89 That quene..dede mani aduersiteez to the pepille, by tailez and subsidiez. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iii. v. 176 Hys subgettes of ryht are holden to sette a subsydye upon them self. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 41 b, A subsidie is to be gathered in all countreis of the Empyre for the Turkishe warre. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 403 Certaine paiments and subsidies which he would have to be levied of his subjects. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj. ii. lxxiii, Of helps and subsidies asked be the Lord fra his men... As quhen his sonne and heire is to be made knicht, or quhen he is to giue his eldest dochter in mariage. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxxi. (1787) III. 225 He stipulated an annual subsidy of corn and money. 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. I. xv. 347 From the treasury of the sanctuary..they granted him a subsidy.

  3. A grant or contribution of money. a. gen.

1421 Cov. Leet Bk. 36 The maiour to gyve a subsydye of money to the wardens of yche warde. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 394/7 And whan she wold entir religion, the forsaid hugh shold yeve to the same xx. marke into subsidie. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 286 He shall geve to his children as a subsidie an hondreth thousand crounes. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 53 ¶10 Your Mention of a Subsidy for a Prince in Misfortune. 1862 Thackeray Philip xvi, Out of small earnings [he] managed to transmit no small comforts and subsidies to old parents living somewhere in Munster.

  b. A sum of money paid by one country to another for the promotion of war or the preservation of neutrality.
  † treaty of subsidy, a subsidiary treaty.

1668 Temple Let. to Sir O. Bridgman 27 Jan., Wks. 1720 II. 56 The hopes we must give him of obtaining Subsidies from Spain, which might countervail what they might lose from France. 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 705/2 This Court..has push'd with so much Ardour the Treaties of Subsidy with Sweden and Denmark, as that they are both very far advanc'd. 1832 tr. Sismondi's Ital. Rep. xv. 324 Maximilian had never money enough to carry on the war without the subsidies of his allies. 1870 Stanhope Hist. Eng. xii. 420 He proposed to contribute by monthly subsidies to the prosecution of the war against Philip if Philip persevered.

  c. Financial aid furnished by a state or a public corporation in furtherance of an undertaking or the upkeep of a thing.

1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Subsidy..a sum allowed for the conveyance of mails. 1881 H. Fawcett Free Trade & Prot. (ed. 4) 38 The special object of assisting through postal subsidies the American shipping trade. 1882 D. A. Wells Merch. Mar. 141 It seems clear..that subsidies as a means of restoring American shipping cannot be made the policy of the United States. 1912 War Dept. Subsidy Scheme 1 Only those lorries which comply in every particular with the terms of this specification..will be eligible for the grant of full subsidy.

  d. fig.

a 1631 Donne Valed. Bk. 42 Poems 1912 I. 31 Woman⁓kinde, Who though from heart, and eyes, They exact great subsidies, Forsake him who on them relies. ? a 1639 T. Carew Poems (1651) 25 Universall losses may command A subsidie from every private eye.

  4. attrib., as subsidy act, subsidy fee; † subsidy book, a book kept for recording the names of those liable to pay subsidy; † subsidy citizen = subsidy man; † subsidy man, a person liable to pay subsidy; hence, a man of means or substance; † subsidy money, money derived from a subsidy; subsidy roll = subsidy book; † subsidy treaty, a subsidiary treaty. b. (temporary) Applied to vehicles subsidized by the War Office in peace time while in their owners' hands and liable to be called upon at the outbreak of war; as subsidy lorry, subsidy machine.

1910 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 11) XI. 86 Uniform rates of duty were fixed in England by the *Subsidy Act of 1660.

1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 35 Bear with me, though perchauns I place not thoz Gentlmen..after theyr estatez: for I am neyther good heraud of armez, nor yet kno hoow they are set in the *Subsydy bookez. 1594 Lyly Mother Bombie ii. v, He that had a cup of red wine to his oysters, was hoysted in the Queenes subsidie booke. a 1613 Overbury Characters, Wise Man Wks. (1856) 60 He chuseth not friends by the subsidy-book, and is not luxurious after acquaintance. 1663 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 93 The old way of rating in the subsidy-books.

1607 Middleton Michaelmas Term iii. iv, If we procure you two substantial *subsidy citizens to bail you.

1911 War Dept. Provis. Subsidy Scheme 2 A proportion of the initial *subsidy fee.

1913 Leyland Motors Ltd., Standard War Office *Subsidy lurry..War Office *Subsidy machines.

1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Canama, *subsidie men, Classis tributariorum. 1597–8 Act 39 Eliz. c. 3 §1 Fower substanciall Howsholders there beinge Subsidy men, or for wante of Subsidy men fower other substanciall Howseholders. 1618 Archd. Essex & Colch. Depos. Rule fol. 50 (MS.) He is worth (his debts beinge paid) a hundreth pounds, but is no subsidie man. 1626 Donne Serm. lxvii. (1640) 680, I will be a Subsidy man so far, so far pay Gods debts, as to celebrate with condigne praise the goodnesse of that man. a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. ii. x. 237 If we should..compare the numbers of Trained Souldiers then and now, the number of Subsidy-men then and now, they will easily give us an Account of a very great Increase and Multiplication of People.

1595 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 455 The *subsidey money groweing to the said towne. 1625–9 in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 188 Whether these Eight Ships lent to the French King..were not paid with the Subsidy-money?

1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 313/1 The *subsidy rolls record the fifteenths and tenths, &c., granted by parliament to the crown.

1747 Gentl. Mag. XVII. 498 They continue to talk of the speedy march of a powerful body of troops to the assistance of the allies, in pursuance of a *subsidy-treaty. 1762 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 348 We did not renew last year the Subsidy Treaty with the King of Prussia.

  Hence ˈsubsidy v. (only in Carlyle), to subsidize.

1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. vii. iii, Austria hesitates; finally refuses, being subsidied by Pitt. 1858 ― Fredk. Gt. iii. xx. I. 372 The English..fought and subsidied from side to side of Europe.

Oxford English Dictionary