Sumptuary meaning

sŭmp'cho͝o-ĕr'ē
Legally regulating expenditures considered extravagant.
adjective
0
0
Legally prohibiting or discouraging, as by the imposition of taxes, certain behaviors.

Sumptuary laws forbidding gambling.

adjective
0
0
Of or regulating expenses or expenditures; specif., seeking to regulate extravagance on religious or moral grounds.
adjective
0
0
Relating to expense; regulating expense or expenditure.
adjective
0
0
Relating to a law; sumptuary laws or regulations, are those intended to restrain or limit the expenditure of citizens in apparel, food, furniture, etc.; laws which regulate the prices of commodities and the wages of labor; laws which forbid or restrict the use of certain articles, as of luxurious apparel.
adjective
0
0
Advertisement

Origin of sumptuary

  • Latin sūmptuārius from sūmptus expense from past participle of sūmere to take, buy em- in Indo-European roots
    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
  • Latin sumptuarius, from sumptus expense, cost, from sumere, sumptum, "to take", "use", "spend"; sub "under" + emere "to take", "buy": compare with French somptuaire
    From Wiktionary

Sumptuary Sentence Examples

  • This was originally worn only by slaves, soldiers and other people of low degree; in the 3rd century, however, it was adopted by fashionable people as a convenient riding or travelling cloak; and finally, by the sumptuary law of 382 (Cod.

  • Gondolas are mentioned as far back as 1094, and, prior to a sumptuary edict passed by the great council in the 16th century, making black their compulsory colour, they were very different in appearance from now.

  • (1661), from the French of Gabriel Naude; Tyrannus or the Mode, in a Discourse of Sumptuary Laws (1661); Sculptura: or the History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper..

  • Following the economic tendencies of the time he issued sumptuary laws and encouraged manufactures; while to suppress the rivalry among the towns he established an order of precedence for them.

  • During this century the first sumptuary edict ordered that the dwellings of all high officials and opulent civilians should have tiled roofs and be colored red, the latter injunction being evidently intended to stop the use of logs carrying their bark.

More sentences →

Related articles

Words near sumptuary in the Dictionary