tribute

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French tribut, from Latin tributum (“tribute”, literally “a thing contributed or paid”), neuter of tributus, past participle of tribuō (“to assign, allot”), usually derived from tribus (“tribe”). See tribe.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɪbjuːt/

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tribute (countable and uncountable, plural tributes)

1. An acknowledgment of gratitude, respect or admiration; an accompanying gift.

   Please accept this as a tribute of our thanks.

   • 1750 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R[ichard] Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: […] R[obert] Dodsley, […], published 1753, →OCLC:

     the passing tribute of a sigh

   1. An homage made in a body of work to another work or creator.

      Did you catch the Up in Smoke tribute in that episode of That '70s Show?

2. A payment made by one nation to another in submission.

   The Ancient Romans made their conquered countries pay tribute.

3. Extortion; protection money.
4. A payment made by a feudal vassal to his lord.
5. (mining) A certain proportion of the mined ore, or of its value, given to the miner as payment.
   • 1778, William Pryce, Mineralogia Cornubiensis: A Treatise on Minerals, Mines, and Mining […] :

     The setting of a Copper Mine upon tribute , has this difference : the Tributor is at the sole expence of digging , raising , and dressing , all the Ore that can be made merchantable

   • 1852-1866, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts and Manufactures

     Tut-work is also employed upon the lode itself, though from the advantages generally considered to arise from the tribute system […]

• encomium
• heriot

• tribe
• tribal
• tributary

tribute (third-person singular simple present tributes, present participle tributing, simple past and past participle tributed)

1. (transitive) To pay as tribute.
   • 1654, Richard Whitlock, Zootomia:

     Amorous Trifler, that spendeth […] his Afternoones in discourse with Paint, or Lust, tributing most precious Minutes, to the Scepter of a Fanne.

• attribute
• contribute
• distribute

• “tribute”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “tribute”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• burtite, turbite

tribūte

1. vocative masculine singular of tribūtus

tribute

1. inflection of tributar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

tribute

1. inflection of tributar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative