exciseman
(ˈɛksaɪz-, ɛkˈsaɪzmən)
[f. excise n. + man.]
An officer employed to collect excise duties and prevent infringement of the excise laws.
| 1647 S. Sheppard (title), The Committee Man curried..A Comedy..discovering the Corruption of Committee Men and Excisemen. 1681 Prideaux Lett. (Camden) 107 The mayor haveing unreasonably taken many licences for ale houses without a legal cause, the excisemen came and complained to the Vice-Chancellor of it. a 1704 T. Brown Table T. Poems 133 A broken Shopkeeper, ends in an Exciseman. 1789 J. Pilkington View Derbyshire I. 405 Mathematical rulers and excisemen's gauging sticks. 1828 Carlyle Crit. & Misc. Ess., Burns Wks. VII. 67 Tomorrow he must go drudge as an exciseman. 1863 Fawcett Pol. Econ. iv. iii. 557 The exciseman can visit the malt⁓house whenever he pleases. |
Hence exˈcisemanship, the office of exciseman.
| 1837 Lockhart Life Scott (F. Hall). |