ship money

noun

A tax applied to coastal towns for their defence in wartime.

“The imposition of ship money without Parliamentary consent was one of the causes of the English Civil War.”

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Meanings

nounship money (countable and uncountable, plural ship moneys or ship monies)

plural ship moneys · plural ship monies

  1. countablehistoricaluncountableA tax applied to coastal towns for their defence in wartime.

    The imposition of ship money without Parliamentary consent was one of the causes of the English Civil War.

    1 more example

    When I stood by the side of Hampden, contending against a heavy oppression, and for an undeniable right, who could have thought that his refusal to pay that twenty shillings ship-money would be the first act of a resistance that was destined to arouse a whole nation, and kindle civil war from one end of our island to the other?

    1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, pages 30–31
Cite this entry
APA

ship money. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ship%20money

MLA

“ship money.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ship%20money. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ship money,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ship%20money.

Source: ship money on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.