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Glite Dictionary
ship money

ship money

9.9
A tax that people in England paid in the 1600s to fund the navy
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : impuesto de barco
  • In the 17th century, the king imposed ship money to fund the navy.

Examples

  • Thereafter ship money was levied every year.

  • Many towns protested against the collection of ship money during that period.

  • The imposition of ship money sparked considerable controversy among the citizens.

Surface Forms

ship money singular
ship moneys plural

Morphology

ship + money

The phrase is directly built from 'ship' + 'money' and would naturally be interpreted as money allocated for ships or naval purposes, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer its basic meaning. While the historical nuance that it was a specific tax in 17th-century England may be missing, the core sense (funds for ships/naval defence) is transparently derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Ship money comes from a practice where the king asked towns to pay money for ships to protect the country. Because it was money for ships, the phrase came to mean 'a tax to pay for the navy', and this tax became very unpopular in 17th-century England.