Publican
['pʌblɪk(ə)n] or ['pʌblɪkən]
Definition
(n.) A farmer of the taxes and public revenues; hence, a collector of toll or tribute. The inferior officers of this class were often oppressive in their exactions, and were regarded with great detestation.
(n.) The keeper of an inn or public house; one licensed to retail beer, spirits, or wine.
Editor: Nancy
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Tax-gatherer.
Inputed by Ezra
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of a publican, denotes that you will have your sympathies aroused by some one in a desperate condition, and you will diminish your own gain for his advancement. To a young woman, this dream brings a worthy lover; but because of his homeliness she will trample on his feelings unnecessarily.
Inputed by Harvey
Examples
- It was but the day before my arrival that one of them had been most grossly insulted in the house of a publican. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Her religion must have been that of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as other men are, nor even as that publican. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Watson, it was no brain of a country publican that thought out such a blind as that. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I am attended by a select body of our boys; the butcher, by two other butchers, a young publican, and a sweep. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- After his return he called Matthew from the receipt of customs, performed some cures, and created scandal by eating with publicans and sinners. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
Typist: Nola