gabelle

American  

[guh-bel] / gəˈbɛl /

noun

1. a tax; excise.

2. French History. a tax on salt, abolished in 1790.

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gabelle British  

/ ɡæˈbɛl /

noun

1. French history a salt tax levied until 1790

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Other Word Forms

• gabelled adjective

Etymology

Origin of gabelle

First recorded in 1375–1425; Middle English gabul, gabel (probably confused with gavel ² ), from Middle French, from Italian gabella, from Arabic qabālah “tax, receipt”

Example Sentences

This gabelle became permanent, giving rise to networks of smugglers and fomenting centuries of revolution and rebellion — even providing the central character in Balzac’s novel “Les Chouans” — until it was officially nixed in 1945.

From New York Times

For standards they bore a loaf stuck on the point of a pike in derision of its tiny size, the result of the gabelle on flour.

From Project Gutenberg

By good luck at this time came the royal commissioners to establish the gabelle or tax in the district of Saintonge, and Palissy was employed to survey the salt marshes.

From Project Gutenberg

These imposts and that of the gabelle were henceforth permanent.

From Project Gutenberg

For see! thy faithful service bore This bitter fruit—the cursed gabelle.

From Project Gutenberg