n. 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. 3.  a.  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. 5.  a.  A payment or tax given by a feudal vassal to an overlord. b.  The obligation to make such a payment. [Middle English tribut, from Old French, from Latin tribūtum, from neuter past participle of tribuere, to pay, distribute, from tribus, tribe; see  TRIBE.]  | 
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.







