cess
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /sɛs/
rhymes: -ɛs
Forms: form: cesses
Etymology: For the first meaning below, the writings of Edmund Spenser, published 1633, point to a borrowing from Irish cís (“tax, tribute, cess, rent”), likely from Latin census.
Other senses: Uncertain. Occurs in print at least as early as 1831, when Samuel Lover used the expression as one already long-established. He unambiguously stated the derivation of cess in the malediction bad cess to be an abbreviation of success. The OED speculated that it either was from success or from assessment meaning a military or governmental exaction. The verb is attested in Middle English (cessen).
Senses: examples: text: EUDOX[US] But what is that which you call Cess? it is a Word sure unused amongst us here; therefore (I pray you) expound the same. IREN[EUS] Cess is none other than that which you yourself called Imposition, but is in a kind unacquainted perhaps unto you; for there are Cesses of sundry sorts: one is the Cessing of Soldiers upon the Countrey; [...] Another kind of Cess is, the imposing of Provisions for the Governours Housekeeping, [...]
ref: 1595-1596, Edmund Spenser, A View of the State of Ireland as it was in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth:
text: The act provides for a levy of a cess on all coal and coke despatched from collieries in India, at such rate, not less than twenty-five paise and not more than fifty paise per ton, as may be fixed by the Central Government.
ref: 1967, G. R. Madan, Indian Social Problems, volume 2, →ISBN, page 225:
text: Therefore it was proposed to levy a cess on local authorities which are entrusted with the duty of supplying water under the law by or under which they are constituted and on certain specified industries.
ref: 2006, The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Georg Thieme Verlag, page 76:
text: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) overhaul will make cars cheaper this festive season across segments. Entry-level and mid-segment cars priced up to ₹14 lakh will see up to a 13% reduction in GST and cess, making them more attractive to a price-sensitive customer base. High-end cars with engines above 1200 cc are set to become 5–10% cheaper. Small cars that run on petrol, LPG and CNG with engines below 1200 cc, and diesel cars of up to 1500 cc and with a length under 4 metres will attract a GST of 18% instead of 28%. The cess of 1% and 3% will no longer be applicable.
ref: 2025 September 5, Jagriti Chandra, “Cars get cheaper, festive sales likely to hit top gear. Sub-4 metre cars with engines below 1,200 cc and 1,500 cc to attract 18% GST; dealers expect increased buyer interest in price-sensitive segments; bigger cars will invite a 40% GST, but removal of cess will boost net savings on purchase”, in The Hindu:
glosses: An assessed tax, duty, or levy; billeting.
examples: text: "Bad cess may attend you, where are you scampering to, you rambunctious"—but she could go no farther; the tears burst from her, and she gave way, without farther resistance, to an explosion of grief.
ref: 1852 November, O’Hara Family, “Clough Fionn; or, The Stone of Destiny”, in The Dublin University Magazine, a Literary and Political Journal, volume XL, number CCXXXIX, Dublin: James McGlashan, […]; London: W[illia]m S[omerville] Orr and Company, →OCLC, chapter XI, page 557:
text: Midland has had good cess with using minute commercials eight television stations, cited as one example of modernizing its advertising.
ref: 1962, News for Farmer Cooperatives, Information Office, Farm Credit Administration:
text: It is good cess to feel the warmth and sincerity of this couple who fill the role of the Queen's representative in Canada.
ref: 1965, Canada Month:
text: Bad cess to it, b'ys! Where's the blessed ting, at all, at all? Bad cess to it!
ref: 2004, Kevin O'Malley, Inside, →ISBN, page 37:
glosses: Usually preceded by good or (more commonly) bad: luck or success.
examples: text: The poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: Bound; measure.