Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Subsidy

Sub′si·dy, n.; pl. Subsidies (#). [L. subsidium the troops stationed in reserve in the third line of battlem reserve, support, help, fr. subsidere to sit down, lie in wait: cf. F. subside. See Subside.] 1. Support; aid; coöperation; esp., extraordinary aid in money rendered to the sovereign or to a friendly power.

They advised the king to send speedy aids, and with much alacrity granted a great rate of subsidy. Bacon.

☞ Subsidies were taxes, not immediately on on property, but on persons in respect of their reputed estates, after the nominal rate of 4s. the pound for lands, and 2s. 8d. for goods. Blackstone.

2. Specifically: A sum of money paid by one sovereign or nation to another to purchase the coöperation or the neutrality of such sovereign or nation in war.

3. A grant from the government, from a municipal corporation, or the like, to a private person or company to assist the establishment or support of an enterprise deemed advantageous to the public; a subvention; as, a subsidy to the owners of a line of ocean steamships.

Syn. — Tribute; grant. — Subsidy, Tribute. A subsidy is voluntary; a tribute is exacted.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.