Definition of "taille" [taille]

• A form of direct royal taxation that was levied in France before 1789 on nonprivileged subjects and lands and tended to weigh most heavily on the peasants. (noun)

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.

• "The wine calendar begins in December with pruning, la taille, which is carried out at intervals until March."
• "Thus stated, if the taille as principal absorbs one-sixth of the net income of the subject of the taille, that is to say, 16 fr. 66 c. on"
• "In France that part of the taille which is charged upon the industry of workmen and day-labourers in country villages, is properly a tax of this kind."