▪ I. levy, n.1
(ˈlɛvɪ)
Forms: 5 leve(e, levye, 5, 7 levie, 6 levey, 7 leavy, 5– levy.
[a. F. levée, f. lever to raise, levy:—L. levāre to raise.]
1. The action of levying: a. The action of collecting an assessment, duty, tax, etc.
| 1427 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 318/2 Labour and coustes hade for þe levee of þe same [revenue]. 1434 Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 297 The said Maire and Baliffs have leve of the said citsaine or dynsyn twies as much. 1496–7 Act 12 Hen. VII, c. 12 §4 The Collectours deputed for the levy of the seid xvmes and xmes nowe graunted. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 19 §7 Suche direccion and order for the levey and payment therof as..shall theyr seme requysyte. 1635 Mass. Col. Rec. (1853) I. 134 The constable of Dorchestr is ffined xxs for not retorneing his warrant for the last levy into the Court. 1714 Steele Lover No. 16 (1723) 94 Sir Anthony stole the manner of this Levy from Lord Peters Invention. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, II. x. 252 The sole object of the Government was to settle the legal levy of the duties. 1862 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) IV. xxxviii. 312 He decreed the levy of one-twentieth upon the succession to property. 1874 Green Sort Hist. v. §4. 244 In the eastern counties its levy [poll-tax] gathered crowds of peasants together. |
| transf. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 51 A levy was made upon nature for every delicacy of food and wines with which to spread the table. |
b. The action of enrolling or collecting men for war or other purposes.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. v. 67 To..giue away The benefit of our Leuies. a 1653 Binning Serm. (1845) 490 What meant the Levy appointed immediately after Dunbar. 1843 James Forest Days x, Arrange with bold Robin for a levy of as many yeomen as possible. 1859 Jephson Brittany viii. 107 The Government endeavoured to carry out the celebrated levy of three hundred thousand men. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxi. 354 As to the levies, the men enlist unwillingly. |
† c. The action of collecting debts or enforcing the payment of fines. Obs.
| 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 43 That my executours..make levy of my dettys. 1702 J. Logan in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 150 As to fines—I have promoted and pressed their levy in this county to my utmost. |
2. The amount or number levied: a. † A duty, impost, tax. Obs. In a trade or benefit society: A call or contribution of so much per head.
| 1640 in Virginia Mag. Hist. & Biog. V. 364 Francis Moryson..being appointed to collect and receive the levy belonging to Mr. George Sandys. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xi. 33 Offa charged this Leavy upon the Inhabitants dwelling in Nine several Diocesses. 1662 Petty Taxes Pref., Great and heavy Leavies upon a poor people. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 171 None but Kings have Pow'r to raise A Levy, which the Subject pays. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. i. viii. 280 The other ancient levies were in the nature of a modern land-tax. 1901 Scotsman 8 Mar. 5/4 It was decided to call up a special levy from next week to cover the amount necessary. |
| transf. 1873 Tristram Moab x. 192 The only levy on our stores had been four bottles of raki. |
b. A body of men enrolled; also pl. the individual men.
| 1611 Bible 1 Kings v. 13 The leuie was thirtie thousand men. 1642 Chas. I Message Parlt. 8 Apr. 4 With the Addition of these Leavies. 1775 J. Trumbull in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 37 Our new levies will be at your camp with all convenient expedition. 1810 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1838) VI. 475 It has brought the Portuguese levies into action. 1826 J. F. Cooper Mohicans (1829) I. vi. 79, I teach singing to the youths of the Connecticut levy. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 181 The levy was to consist of 1058 horse, and 3038 foot. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1872) VIII. xviii. xii. 18 Daun..is..perfecting his new levies. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. v. 312 The Danes put the irregular English levies to flight. 1887 M. Morris Claverhouse x. (1888) 177 Some new levies of horse. |
3. levy in mass [F. levée en masse]: a levy of all the able-bodied men in a country or district for military service.
| 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. (1808) I. 179 The levy in mass, the telegraph, and the income-tax are all from France. 1830 W. Taylor Hist. Surv. Germ. Poetry III. 425 Körner..stimulated the levy-in-mass of the nation. |
4. In some public schools: A meeting called for discussion of any matter relating to the school.
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, A levy of the School had been held, at which the captain of the School had got up, and after premising that [etc.]. Ibid., A levy of the sixth had been held on the subject. Ibid. i. ix, Holmes called a levy of his house. |
5. Comb.: levy-money, † (a) bounty-money paid to recruits; (b) contributions called for from the members of a trade or benefit society.
| 1671 R. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 503 To learn at what rate they may have men, both as to the levy-money and the constant pay. 1702 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) V. 134 That there be allowed for levy money for the dragoons, {pstlg}12 for man and horse. 1777 Hist. Eur. in Ann. Reg. 70/1 An unexpected demand made by the Landgrave of Hesse for levy money. 1894 Westm. Gaz. 16 July 2/3 The..refusal of the Federationists to share with them the English levy money. |
▪ II. levy, n.2
(ˈlɛvɪ)
[Short for eleven pence or eleven-penny bit.]
† a. (See quot. 1859.) b. local U.S. ‘The sum of twelve and a half cents; a {oqq}bit{cqq}’ (Cent. Dict.). Also local U.K., a shilling (obs.).
| 1829 C. Sealsfield Tokeah II. ii. 22 ‘But them fips and levies,’ throwing a dirty leather bag with a dozen small silver coins upon the table, ‘must first go.’ 1832 F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. I. 171 He drew from thence [sc. from his pocket] rather more dollars, half-dollars, levies, and fips, than his dirty little hand could well hold. 1837–47 Neal Charcoal Sk., Crooked Disciple (1872) 204 (Funk), Give us a fip's worth of sheet and levy's worth of blanket. 1859 Barlett Dict. Amer., Levy,..In..Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, the Spanish real..twelve and a half cents. Sometimes called an elevenpenny bit. 1864 Hotten Slang Dict. 170 Levy, a shilling.—Liverpool. |
▪ III. levy, v.
(ˈlɛvɪ)
Forms: 4, 6 leve, (6 lewe), 5 levee, 5–6 levie, 6–7 leavie, -y(e, levey, 5– levy.
[f. levy n.1 The early form leve may possibly be monosyllabic, and in that case would be a different word (cf. leave v.3), a. F. lever to raise, levy, from which the Eng. vb. levy derives most of its senses.]
1. a. trans. To raise (contributions, taxes); to impose (an assessment, rate, toll, etc.). Const. † of, on, upon.
| 1388 Waterf. Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 292 If the Maire..wil not leve and areyse the said xls. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. cxcviii. 204, xl. M. li...was leuyed of his subiectes, and named..Dane Gelt. 1509–10 Act 1 Hen. VIII, c. 19 Preamble, Your said Oratour..levyed severall Fynes of all the foresaid Manours. 1550 Crowley Epigr. 1205 To leauye greate fines, or to ouer the rent. 1608 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 60 A sesment of ijs. the pounde shalbe leveyed presently through this parish. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. 104 Ship-money was levied with the same severity, and the same rigour used in ecclesiastical courts. a 1674 ― Surv. Leviath. (1676) 170 That he hath power to leavy mony. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 30 Bank keepers..must have power to levy upon the general, what they happen to loose unto particular men. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. vi, The pension..is levied by the emperor's officers. 1786 Burke W. Hastings Wks. 1842 II. 135 Levying the tribute of the whole on the little that remained. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, II. v. 129 [They] declared, that these rates could no longer be levied without a grant of Parliament. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xxx. (ed. 3) 294 A fine should be levied on the delinquent. 1853 C. Brontë Villette xiv, A subscription was annually levied on the whole school for the purchase of a handsome present. 1874 Green Short Hist. ii. §6. 90 No toll might be levied from tenants of the Abbey farms. |
† b. To raise (a sum of money) as a profit or rent; to collect (the amount of) a debt; also, to take the revenues of (land). Obs.
| 1469 Bury Wills (Camden) 48 That the ferme of the seid londys..go to myne doughter Margerye tyll the summe of x marke be levyed for the seid Margerye. 1496 W. Paston in P. Lett. III. 469 For as moche as..my dettis cannot be redely levied. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxix. 43 He..wolde leuey the moyte of their landes to his owne vse. 1613 Bury Wills (Camden) 162 My..mynde is y{supt} he enter into the said tenemente and hould the same vntill owte of the revenewes therof he shall have levyed the same. 1768 Blackstone Comm. III. 419 To hold, till out of the rents and profits thereof the debt be levied. |
c. To raise (a sum of money) by legal execution or process. Const. on (the goods of). Also, to levy execution for (a specified sum).
| c 1506 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 198 The berer shall goe to the Shereff with this exigent, & have from him a warrant to leve the sayd money, or els to take your body. 1669–70 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 308 [The fine] shall be levyd on the goods of any one or more persons that were there. 1795 Wythe Decis. Virginia 13 By directing the execution to be levied for {pstlg}1,000. |
| absol. 1885 Law Times LXXVIII. 389/2 An execution creditor..levied on their goods for the purpose of realising his debt. |
d. To impose (service) upon; to require (a person's) attendance.
| [1611 Bible 1 Kings ix. 21 Vpon those did Solomon leuie a tribute of bond-seruice vnto this day.] 1862 Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. x. 203 They willingly undertook the tributary service which was levied upon them. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) I. xxi. 179 Ho, there! my friend! I'll levy thine attendance. |
e. U.S. = charge v. 18.
| 1837 J. C. Calhoun Wks. III. 36 Mr. Madison, under the impression that these papers would be favorably received by the Public..had levied several legacies upon them. |
f. To impose a levy on (a person). Also refl.
| 1902 Westm. Gaz. 17 June 9/1 The members will be levied 1s. yearly to support their candidate. 1921 Ibid. 24 May 2/4 When the stoppage ceases the miners will levy themselves in order to meet these promissory notes. |
2. a. Law. to levy a fine: see fine n. 6 b. (The expression also occurs with different sense: see 1.)
| 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 7 §1 Notes and Fines levied in the King's Courts..should be openly and solemnly read. 1642 Perkins' Profit. Bk. iv. §256. 114 If..either of them levie a fyne unto other of the same land. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) I. 420 When a fine was levied..the estate was in the cognizee or feoffee..by the common law. Ibid. V. 67 If the fine was proved to have been duly levied, then the party who refused to adhere to it was attached. 1844 Williams Real Prop. (1877) 55 She was also prohibited from levying a fine. |
b. To draw up (an objection, protest) in due form.
| 1660 Stillingfl. Iren. i. i. (1662) 7 This objection will be soon leavied, that it is [etc.]. 1868 E. Seyd Bullion 82 He must send the Bill to a Notary..who then levies Protest in due form. |
† 3. In various obsolete senses: a. To set up (a fence, weir, etc.); to erect (a house); = AF. lever, Law Latin levare. b. To plan out (ground). c. To weigh (an anchor).
| a. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. v, Weares and other Engynes for fisshing ther made levyed fixed. 1513 in Fowler Hist. C.C.C. (O.H.S.) 60 The sayd Master and Prior of St. Frideswith hath begunne to build and levie one house for a College. 1549 Act 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 3 §2 It hapneth sometime, that some Man..hath made or levied a Ditch or Hedge. 1619 Dalton Country Just. I. (1630) 135 The new levying or inhancing of Weares Mills [etc.]. 1741 Viner Abridgm. XVI. 23 Levying of a Goss to intercept the Course of Fish. |
| b. 1500–18 Acc. Louth Steeple in Archæologia X. 74 Paid to William Thomas and William Palmer, levying the ground for to sett the broach upon. |
| c. 1648 Gage West. Ind. xxi. (1655) 195 We levying our anchor went on to Panama. |
4. To enlist (armed men), enrol, bring into the field (soldiers, an army); to muster the available force of (a district). Also, to levy up.
| c 1500 Melusine 135 The men of armes, that he leuyed fro the garnysons. 1557 Act 4 & 5 Phil. & Mary c. 3 §1 To muster their Ma{supt}{supi}⊇{sups} People..and to levie a nomber of them for the Service of their Ma{supt}{supi}⊇{sups}. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia v. (1629) 447 With sufficient authoritie to leauie forces. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. (1634) 63 This was the last Fight of that huge Army leavied against Greece. 1649 H. Guthry Mem. (1702) 45 The General and his Council appointed the Earl of Montross..to levy Fife, Strathern, Angus, and Merne. 1671 L. Addison W. Barbary 40 A small Cavila, not able to levy above 500 in all. 1761–2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lxiv. 745 An army of twelve thousand men was suddenly levied. 1797 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) I. 17 Tippoo Sultaun suffered the military force which they had levied..to land in his country. 1843 H. Gavin Feigned Dis. 11 Men apprehensive of being levied, or actually levied, or forced into the military or naval services. |
| fig. 1599 Middleton & Rowley Old Law iv. ii, Why should nature have that power in me To leavy up a thousand bleeding sorrowes. 1705 J. Philips Blenheim 176 As when two adverse winds,..Engage with horrid shock,..Levying their equal force with utmost rage. |
5. To undertake, commence, make (war). Const. against, on, upon.
Johnson says: ‘This sense, though Milton's, seems improper’, presumably because there is no similar use of F. lever; but it is a natural development from sense 4.
| 1471 in Warkworth's Chron. (Camd.) 57 To levee werre ayenst him. 1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII, c. 12 The kynge..is forced.. to leuy warre, and to prosecute his saide ennemies. ? 1659 Priv. Devotions in Gentl. Calling (1679) 160 So levying War against Thee with thine own Treasure. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 219 The Syrian King..Assassin-like had levied Warr, Warr unproclam'd. a 1720 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 111 A meer design of deposition, imprisonment, or levying war, are not within the bare words of this law. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. xi. 238 They..then proceeded without further ceremony to levy war upon the king. 1789 Constitution U.S. iii. §3 Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them. 1814 Cary Dante, Par. xxvii. 47 [Those] that do levy war On the baptized. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. vii. vi. (1864) IV. 202 Crusades will hereafter be levied against those who dared impiously to [etc.]. |
† 6. To raise, discontinue (a siege); to break up (a camp). Obs.
| 1542 Seymour in St. Papers Hen. VIII, IX. 201 The segge beynge lewed from beforre the towne of Pest the 7{supt}{suph} day of October. ? 1548 Edw. VI Jrnl. in Lit. Rem. (Roxb.) II. 223 The sieg being levied th'erle of Shrewsbery entred it. 1579 Fenton Guicciard. (1618) 256 There was made no more doubt to leuie the Campe. 1588 Exhort. to Faithf. Subj. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 102 Porcenna..forthwith levied the siege. 1600 Holland Livy xxxvi. x. 925 Albeit hee saw that the siege was levied..yet [etc.]. 1628 Hobbes Thucyd. (1629) 74 They sent Ambassadours againe to Athens commanding them to leuy the Siege from before Potidæa. |
¶ 7. Wrongly used for level v.
| 1618 Breton Court & Country (Grosart) 6/1 Winking with one eye, as though hee were leuying at a Woodcocke. a 1634 Randolph De Histrice 2 Poems (1638) 26 Fam'd Stymphall, I have heard, thy birds in flight Shoot showers of arrowes forth all levied right. |
Hence ˈlevied ppl. a.
| 1768 Hume Ess. xxxiii. 243 How distinguish the new from the old levied soldiers? 1819 R. Chapman Life Jas. V, 160 They are only new levied men, and undisciplined. 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 105 A new levied band of hunters and trappers. |
▪ IV. levy
obs. form of leavy a., levee1 and levee2.