Definition of "tithe" []

• A tenth part of one's annual income contributed voluntarily or due as a tax, especially for the support of the clergy or church. (noun)
• The institution or obligation of paying tithes. (noun)
• A tax or assessment of one tenth. (noun)
• A tenth part. (noun)
• A very small part. (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.

• "At length the auction commenced, and the first article put up for competition was a fine heifer, but not an individual present would open his lips to bid for her; and, on a little further examination, it was ascertained that all the cattle had been branded with the word tithe, in large and legible characters."
• "Let’s recreate the country in that model, smaller near-sovereign units of government, about the average size of the original states (300K or so) (and keep them that way), with the federal government reduced to insuring tax and regulatory competition between the new states, freedom to vote with your feet, a common currency, the common (external) defense paid for with a tithe from the states, and little more."
• "What if the whole Church recast the idea of tithe as a fraction of our treasure given back to God in the world and not our institutions?"