head money

English

Noun

head money (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Poll tax.
   • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC:

     to be taxt by the poul, to be scons't our head money, our tuppences in their Chaunlerly Shop-book of Easter

2. (obsolete) A reward paid per person captured at sea etc.
3. (obsolete) A reward for a proscribed outlaw's head.