mulct

American  

[muhlkt] / mʌlkt /

verb (used with object)

1. to deprive (someone) of something, as by fraud, extortion, etc.; swindle.

2. to obtain (money or the like) by fraud, extortion, etc.

3. to punish (a person) by fine, especially for a misdemeanor.

---

noun

1. a fine, especially for a misdemeanor.

mulct British  

/ mʌlkt /

verb

1. to cheat or defraud

2. to fine (a person)

---

noun

1. a fine or penalty

Other Word Forms

• unmulcted adjective

Etymology

Origin of mulct

First recorded in 1475–85, mulct is from the Latin word mul(c)ta penalty involving loss of property

Explanation

The meaning of mulct is as nasty as it sounds; it means to fine someone or the money you collect as a result of a fine. No one wants to pay an extra mulct to the city, when it's the city who mismanaged the budget. Got mulct? Then somebody took your money. They "milked" you by mulcting you. And the money that they took? That's called mulct, too. Some people believe that there's no difference between being mulcted by the state and being shaken down by the mob. In fact, the word mulct is often used to mean having your money taken unfairly or as a kind of punishment or as extortion.

Example Sentences

Time Warner figured it could mulct the other pay-TV companies for every last dime because, really, what TV service would dare not carry the Dodgers, whatever the price?

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 2, 2022

“Existing at the pleasure of the advertisers, to mulct the public, gratifying their stupidity, and render some small advance on investment to the owners, offering putative employment to their etiolated, wastrel sons.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 6, 2018

In Savannah, Captain Carter's successor began an investigation resulting in charges that he had conspired with the harbor contractors to mulct the Government, by shoddy work and extravagant prices, of some $1,800,000.

From Time Magazine Archive

Shrewd, he realized early that complete liberty to mulct the devotees of chance would never be given him under the laws of a land so large as Germany.

From Time Magazine Archive

And the stream which courses past close to the cave’s mouth, now a tiny mulct, will soon be a raging, foaming torrent, as Gaspar well knows.

From Gaspar the Gaucho A Story of the Gran Chaco by Tilney, F.C.