Definition of "excise" []

• An internal tax imposed on the production, sale, or consumption of a commodity or the use of a service within a country: excises on tobacco, liquor, and long-distance telephone calls. (noun)
• A licensing charge or a fee levied for certain privileges. (noun)
• To levy an excise on. (verb-transitive)
• To remove by or as if by cutting: excised the tumor; excised two scenes from the film. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "[4] Johnson, in his Dictionary, defines EXCISE "a hateful tax, levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the _common judges_ of property, but by _wretches_ hired by those to whom excise is paid;" and, in the _Idler_ (No. 65) he calls a _commissioner of excise_ "one of the _lowest_ of all human beings.""
• "Two quick defenses of 230: (1) What content do people want to excise from the internet?"
• "The proposed increase in excise tax is (in my opinion)."