"levy" definition, meaning, and origin

Noun

The act of levying.
1. A conscription action.
  - 1835-1847, Connop Thirlwall, The History of Greece A levy of all the men left under sixty.
The things or people so levied.
- The Irish levies. - 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- The first is that French people are more concerned about the poor health of their democracy – since the carbon levy they have campaigned for democratic reform (though this has proven harder to deliver than the tax...
1. A tax.
  
  A tax paid in money.
2. A tax.
  
  A tax in kind.
3. Requisitioned supplies.
4. A body of conscripts.
  - To make up for their losses at the battle they [the professional army of Harold II, Anglo-Saxon King of England] had gathered levies of men from the counties they passed through on their way south. […] Ranged alongside...
A shilling.

From Anglo-Norman leve, from Old French levee, from lever (“to raise”), from Latin lēvāre (“to raise, lift”).

The Spanish real of one eighth of a dollar, valued at elevenpence when the dollar was rated at seven shillings and sixpence.

Contraction of elevenpence.

To impose (a tax or fine) to collect monies due, or to confiscate property.
- to levy a tax
- In August, the company also announced that it would begin to levy fines on other vendors on its platform who over-package their products. - 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped...
To raise or collect by assessment; to exact by authority.
- If they do this […] my ransom, then, / Will soon be levied. - 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio),...
To draft someone into military service.
To raise; to collect; said of troops, to form into an army by enrollment, conscription. etc.
- Augustine […] inflamed Ethelbert, king of Kent, to levy his power, and to war against them. - 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
To wage war.
To raise, as a siege.
- Albeit hee saw that the siege was levied - 1659, T[itus] Livius [i.e., Livy], “(please specify the book number)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Romane Historie […], London: […] W. Hunt, for George Sawbridge, […],...
To erect, build, or set up; to make or construct; to raise or cast up.
- The new levying or inhancing of Weares Mills - 1619, Michael Dalton, The Countrey Justice: