tributary, a. and n.
(ˈtrɪbjuːtərɪ)
[ad. L. tribūtāri-us: see next and -ary1. Cf. F. tributaire (12th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
A. adj.
1. a. Paying tribute; subject to imposts.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Macc. xiii. 39 Ȝif eny other thing was tributarye [gloss] or bounden to tribute, in Jerusalem, nowe be it not tributarie. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. xxxiii. 185 Al..by-came lyeges and Subiectes tributarijs by grete othis for ham and hare kyngedomes and lordshuppes. 1494 Fabyan Chron. ii. xlviii. 31 At those dayes a great parte of y⊇ worlde was trybutary to Rome. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) p. xii, These therefore were by Iulius Cæsar subdued to the Romane Empire, and their countrie made a tributarie Province. 1665 Dryden Ind. Emp. i. ii, This Charles is some poor Tributary Lord. 1786 Burke W. Hastings iii. iii. xxviii. Wks. XI. 460 As far independent as a tributary prince could be. 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 9 Many states, hitherto independent, were compelled to become tributary to the Company. |
b. fig.
| c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 89 Þat fretynge aduersarie Myn hert[e] made to hym tributarie. 1577 Hellowes Gueuara's Chron. 232 Traiane did vse to say, that Rome was more tributarie then any place of the world: for that they could not eate, but if it were giuen them from other kingdomes. 1796 Burney Mem. Metastasio II. 218 Productions..for which they used to be tributary to the industry of other nations. |
2. transf. and fig. Furnishing subsidiary supplies or aid; subsidiary, auxiliary, contributory; also said of a stream or river which flows into another.
| 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 37 Th'emperious Seas breeds Monsters; for the Dish, Poore Tributary Riuers, as sweet Fish. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 49 For me your tributary stores combine. 1823 C. B. Vignoles Observations upon Floridas 56 The Choctawhatchie river, and all its tributary streams discharge into the eastern end of this bay. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. vii. 57, I climbed up among the tributary glaciers. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 5 With reference therefore to the rivers tributary to the Thames. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VI. 651 The neuralgia may affect the whole of the tributary nerves of the plexus. |
3. Paid or offered as tribute; of the nature of tribute; contributory.
| 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. i. 159 Loe at this Tombe my tributarie teares, I render. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ii. 55 They pay a yearly tributary pension vnto the great Turke. 1771 Poetry in Ann. Reg. 206 Immortal fame Shall grace with tributary praise thy name. 1780 Cowper Table Talk 112 Many a dunce, whose fingers itch to write, Adds, as he can, his tributary mite. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles i. i, Each minstrel's tributary lay Paid homage to the festal day. |
4. Of which one bears the cost; expensive.
| 1632 Lithgow Trav. i. 9 The chargeable expences of a tributary iourney. Ibid. iii. 114 This tributary, tedious, and sumptuous peregrination. |
B. n. (Absolute use of the adj. So in Fr.)
1. One who pays tribute. Also fig.
| [c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xii. (Mathias) 123 With trybvtaris he fled þane to þe towne of Ierusaleme.] 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 275 For Sicambri were tributaryes to thempyre of Rome vn to the tyme of Valentinian. 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. i. 4 He..subdued y⊇ londes and people with their prynces, so that they became tributaries vnto him. 1612 Davies Why Ireland, etc. (1787) 10 The Irish Lords did only promise to become tributaries to King Henry the Second. And such as pay only tribute..are not properly subjects but sovereigns. a 1704 T. Brown Alsop's St. Conform. Wks. 1711 IV. 119 Living a constant Tributary to those Vermin the Bailiffs. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xx. 509 A tributary and vassal to the English monarch. |
2. transf. and fig. One who or that which furnishes subsidiary supplies or aid. a. spec. A stream contributing its flow to a larger stream or lake; an affluent, feeder.
(Not in Todd 1818, Webster 1828, or Craig 1849.)
| 1822 W. H. Simmons Notices of East Florida iii. 29 [The] appearance [of bonnet leaf]..indicates from a distance, the influx of some tributary of the main stream. 1836 W. Irving Astoria III. 261 A fortified post and port..commanding the trade of that river and its tributaries. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 35 The Medway can hardly be called a tributary of the Thames; but..it falls into the æstuary of the latter. 1866 M. Arnold Thyrsis xi, What sedged brooks are Thames's tributaries. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 354 Two new rivers..both of which he surmised were tributaries of the Congo. |
b. Of other things.
| 1859 Cornwallis Panorama New World I. 137 At the foot of this terraced hill was the necropolis, and near it its tributary, the Bendigo Hospital. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede ii, The lower sphere might be said, at a rough guess, to be thirteen times larger than the upper, which naturally performed the function of a mere satellite and tributary. 1870 Emerson Soc. & Solit., Bks. Wks. (Bohn) III. 84 The great metropolitan English speech, the sea which receives tributaries from every region under heaven. |
Hence ˈtributarily adv., ˈtributariness.
| 1727 Bailey Vol. II, Tributariness, the Condition or State of those that pay Tribute. 1847 Webster, Tributarily, adv. in a tributary manner. |