Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Tributary

Trib′u·ta·ry (trĭb′ū·tā·ry̆), a. [OE. tributaire, F. tributaire, L. tributarius. See Tribute.] 1. Paying tribute to another, either from compulsion, as an acknowledgment of submission, or to secure protection, or for the purpose of purchasing peace.

[Julius] unto Rome made them tributary. Chaucer.

2. Hence, subject; subordinate; inferior.

He to grace his tributary gods. Milton.

3. Paid in tribute. "Tributary tears." Shak.

4. Yielding supplies of any kind; serving to form or make up, a greater object of the same kind, as a part, branch, etc.; contributing; as, the Ohio has many tributary streams, and is itself tributary to the Mississippi.

Trib′u·ta·ry, n.; pl. Tributaries. 1. A ruler or state that pays tribute, or a stated sum, to a conquering power, for the purpose of securing peace and protection, or as an acknowledgment of submission, or for the purchase of security.

2. A stream or river flowing into a larger river or into a lake; an affluent.

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 “?”.