ˈtax-ˌgatherer arch.
A collector of taxes.
| [1552 Huloet, Taske gatherer, exactor.] 1693 Dryden Disc. Orig. & Progr. Satire in Ess. (ed. Ker) II. 77 Casaubon..says that Horace, being the son of a tax-gatherer..smells everywhere of the meanness of his birth. 1771 Goldsm. Hist. Eng. (1789) IV. 271 The oppressions of the tax-gatherers..were considered as so severe, that the army once more rose to vindicate their freedom. 1826 Syd. Smith Let. on Cath. Quest. Wks. 1859 II. 232/1 The tax-gatherer is the most indulgent and liberal of human beings;..and is candidly and impartially oppressive to every description of the Christian world. 1904 Expositor Mar. 213 Christ..certainly had a taxgatherer for one of his chief disciples. |