danegeld

noun

1. (uncountable)A tax raised originally to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders in the 10th and 11th centuries to save a land from being ravaged, and later continued as a land tax.

   “And who shall then stick closest to ye, and excite others? not he who takes up armes for cote and conduct, and his four nobles of Danegelt.”

2. (broadly, uncountable)Any kind of tribute.

   “The best now pay danegeld to the sloths, the greedy, the manipulators. And congress has legitimized the channels of deceit through laws which pay danegeld to the most strident noise makers.”

   “But this part of the industry still had to pay Danegeld to the already over-endowed City.”

   “This is not just a question of intelligent men selling out or having to pay Danegeld to the fundamentalists and the unions; ...”

   “He notes how 'the Conservatives confusedly thought that they had to pay danegeld to the Left and did so reluctantly and inappropriately, ...”

   “When the challenge of the barbarians finally came , Rome had to pay Danegeld to buy off the marauders.”

3. (alt-of, uncountable)Alternative letter-case form of Danegeld.

   “He notes how 'the Conservatives confusedly thought that they had to pay danegeld to the Left and did so reluctantly and inappropriately, ...”

   “The best now pay danegeld to the sloths, the greedy, the manipulators. And congress has legitimized the channels of deceit through laws which pay danegeld to the most strident noise makers.”

   “What's unfair is that we make it tough for young people to get a job unless they pay danegeld to a four-year college to get a certificate that says it's okay to employ them.”