| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| tribute |
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| SYLLABICATION: | trib·ute |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  tr b y t |
| NOUN: | 1. A gift, payment, declaration, or other acknowledgment of gratitude, respect, or admiration: put up a plaque as a tribute to his generosity. 2. Evidence attesting to some praiseworthy quality or characteristic: Winning the scholarship was a tribute to her hard work. 3a. A payment in money or other valuables made by one ruler or nation to another in acknowledgment of submission or as the price of protection or security. b. A tax imposed for such payment. 4. Any payment exacted for protection. 5a. A payment or tax given by a feudal vassal to an overlord. b. The obligation to make such a payment. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English tribut, from Old French, from Latin trib tum, from neuter past participle of tribuere, to pay, distribute, from tribus, tribe. See tribe.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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