▪ I. tithing, n.
(ˈtaɪðɪŋ)
Forms: α. 1 téoþung, -ing, 3 (theoþinge), toðing(e, teuþing(e, 3–4 teþing, -yng, (thething), 4 tuþing, tueþyng, tethinge, teothinge. β. 1 teiᵹðuncg, tiᵹeðing, 3–5 tiþing, 5–9 tything, 6– tithing.
[OE. téoðung, Anglian tiᵹeðing, f. téoða, tiᵹeþe tithe n.1 or téoðian tithe v.2: see -ing1, -ing3.]
1. One tenth given to the church; = tithe n.1 1.
| α 925–c 936 Laws of Athelstan i. Prol., Ic æðelstan cyningc..eow bidde..þæt ᵹe ærest of minum aᵹenum gode aᵹifan ða teoðunga. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 178 We sceolon..of ures ᵹeares teolunge Gode þa teoðunge syllan. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xviii. 12 Ic sylle teoþunga [c 1160 Hatton Gosp., Ic ᵹife teondunge]. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 215 Þu bitechest þe prest alle þine teðinge. c 1275 Sayings of Bede 137 in Horstm. Alteng. Leg. 141 If he may..stelen Cristes teuþinge [v.r. theoþinge]. a 1325 MS. Rawl. B. 520 lf. 38 Offrendes ore Tuþinges þat habbez ben iȝiuene ant vsed. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 257 All teþynge [MS. γ. tueþyng] schulde be payde to þe moder chirche. 14.. Childe of Bristowe 364 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 124 Tethynges and offrynges, sone, he sayd, for y them never truly payd. |
| β c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xviii. 12 Teiᵹðuncgas [Rushw. teᵹðunge] ic sello allra ða ðe ic ah. a 1040 Bidding Prayer in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1912) Jan. 10 Mid lihte and mid tiᵹeðinge. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 129 Þeh we gon to chirche and giuen rihte tiðinge. 1382 Wyclif Tobit i. 7 He mynystrede alle tithing [1388 hise tithis]. c 1440 Gesta Rom. vi. 16 (Harl. MS.) Þey have not of hire owne to lyve with, but of tythingis. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1000 If we maye haue the tythynges And profytable offerynges. 1861 A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. viii. 280, I plead..for a tithing of wealth and art and mechanical power offered at the altar of the Most High. |
b. spec. A shock or stook of ten sheaves (orig. so set up for the convenience of the tithe-proctor): see quots. dial.
| 1764 Museum Rust. II. cvii. 362 Repeating the practice till there be thirty or forty tything brought together. 1794 T. Davis Agric. Wilts. 76 The general custom..is, to set up the sheafs in double rows, usually ten sheaves together, (provincially a tything) for the convenience of the tything⁓man. 1813 Ibid. Gloss., Tithings, ten sheaves of wheat set up together in a double row. |
† 2. A tenth part of anything. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. vi. 12 Ȝit in it tithing. 1388 Ibid., And ȝit tithing [gloss ether tenthe part] schal be ther ynne. a 1425 tr. Higden (Rolls) VII. App. 520 (MS. β) Hym thouȝt that the tethinge were to many ylefte; and teothed efte the teothinge. 1609 Bible (Douay) Isa. vi. 13 And yet there shal be tithing in it, and she shal be converted [1611 But yet in it shalbe a tenth, and it shall returne]. |
3. A company (originally) of ten householders in the system of frank-pledge; now only as a rural division (originally regarded as one tenth of a hundred) to which this system gave its name.
| c 930–40 Laws of Athelstan vi. c. 8 §1 Þæt we us ᵹegaderian..þa hyndenmenn and þa þe ða teoþunge bewitan. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5402 He by vond..þat ech man wiþ oute gret lond In þe teþinge were ydo & þat ech man knewe oþer þat in teþinge were. a 1400 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 361 Ȝef a foreyne empledy þe teþynge, þe teþynge ne haþ bote þre dayes to shewynge... Whanne þe teþynge empledeþ a foreyn, þe foreyn haþ his delay. 1432 [see tithingman1]. 1538 Fitzherb. Just. Peas 129 In Towne, Tithinge, Village, or Hamlet. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 18 Some were called..Tithings,..bicause there were in eche of them to the number of ten persons, whereof eche one was suretie and pledge for others good abearing. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 158 Hee caused the Counties to be parted into Centuries, that is Hundreds, and Decimes, that is Tithings. 1646 W. Hughes Mirr. Justices i. ii, These divisions in some places are called hundreds..and in some places Tythings or Wapentakes, according to the English. 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. (1761) I. ii. 49 The neighbouring householders were formed into one corporation, who, under the name of a tithing, decennary, or fribourg, were answerable for each other's conduct. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 81 The institution of tithings did not prevail all through England, perhaps not to the north of the Trent. 1874 Stubbs Const. Hist. I. 86 note, Tithings at present exist in Somersetshire and Wiltshire. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as tithing-barn, tithing-sheaf, tithing table. See also tithingman1, -penny.
| c 1540 Old Ways (1892) 45 The said Hayside had sowlde the said tythyng ootys. 1654 Vilvain Theol. Treat. Supp. 238 Not a tithing part of Mankind can possibly find place to stand on a new Earth. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 66/2 A Bill for abolishing of Oblations and Mortuaries, and appointing a Tything Table throughout the Kingdom. 1865 Kingsley Herew. i, A palace..beside which King Edward's new Hall at Westminster would show but as a tything-barn. 1907 Contemp. Rev. June 796 The farmer was bound to cart his tithing-sheaves to the parson's barn. |
▪ II. tithing, vbl. n.
(ˈtaɪðɪŋ)
[f. tithe v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of tithe v.2 a. Payment of tithes. Cf. tithe v.2 2.
| c 1305 St. Swithin 40 in E.E.P. (1862) 44 Ech man wolde þurf þe lond his teoþing wel do. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 149 Their colde & feble doctryne..concernyng the true tithyng of myntes & rue. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 25 Though some in their tithing be slack or too bold. 1682 Burnet Rights Princes i. 20 That the tything of Mint and Anise should not be left undone. 1929 R. S. & H. M. Lynd Middletown xxii. 356 Traditionally every Christian ‘returns a tenth of his substance to the Lord’. A few families in Middletown continue this practice of tithing, but..the great majority contribute far less than a tenth. |
b. Exaction of tithes. Also transf.
| 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 513 The tithing of Springals is made every third yeare. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 89 If the defendant pleads any custom..or other matter whereby the right of tithing is called in question. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 289 Taxing and tything. 1843 Marryat M. Violet xxxix, He is receiving regular pay, derived from the tithing of this warlike people. |
† c. The killing of every tenth; decimation; sometimes, the killing of all but the tenth. Obs.
| 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 716 The tithing of armies..when every tenth man throughout a whole hoste was by lot put to death. 1601 F. Godwin Bps. Eng. 24 In that same terrible tithing of the Danes..all the monks were slaine, except onely fower. |
d. attrib., as tithing port, tithing-system, tithing-time, etc.
| 1548 Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 13 §2 As often as the saide predyall Tythes shalbe due, and at the tythinge tyme of the same. a 1786 Cowper Yearly Distress 8 But oh! it cuts him like a scythe, When tithing time draws near. 1850 Grote Greece ii. lxiii. (1862) V. 462 This place he..erected..into a regular tithing port for levying toll on all vessels coming out of the Euxine. 1853 Rock Ch. of Fathers III. ii. 65 These days [Lent] are the tithing-days of the year. 1904 F. W. Maitland Let. 19 May (1965) 305 We still want a little more light on the tithing system. 1978 Daily Mirror 12 Jan. 6/6 Much of their wealth comes from the use of the ‘tithe-ing’ system—members of the religion are required (like the Mormons) to donate one-tenth of their income to the funds. |