\Dane"geld`\, Danegelt \Dane"gelt`\, n. [AS. danegeld.
See {Dane}, and {Geld}, n.] (Eng. Hist.)
An annual tax formerly laid on the English nation to buy off
the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to
oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by
an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two
shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm.
--Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins.