Excise ***

excise







Y

向...徵收消費稅, 貨物稅, 執照稅



D



–noun 

1. an internal tax or duty on certain commodities, as liquor or tobacco, levied on their manufacture, sale, or consumption within the country.

2. a tax levied for a license to carry on certain employments, pursue certain sports, etc.

3. British. the branch of the civil service that collects excise taxes. 



–verb (used with object) 

4. to impose an excise on. 



–verb (used with object) 

1. to expunge, as a passage or sentence, from a text.

2. to cut out or off, as a tumor. 





C



excise (n., vv.) 

 

The noun excise means "a tax, especially on a commodity," and the word is commonly used in a compound, excise tax. Stress the first syllable of both noun and compound. 



One verb, pronounced also with stress on the first syllable, means "to impose an excise on." 



These two words came through Dutch from a French root probably meaning "assessment" or "sitting to make such assessments." 





The other verb excise (pronounced with stress on the second syllable) derives from a Latin verb meaning "to cut" or "to remove by cutting": The surgeon attempted to excise the [tumor].



All three uses are Standard, although the first verb is relatively rare, and the second perhaps fairly formal.





　

Six years later, as her marriage to Augusten's alcoholic father Norman (a stoic Alec Baldwin) [deteriorates], Deirdre begins seeing a therapist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), known for his unusual and progressive methods. The couple's spiteful joint sessions don't forestall their inevitable divorce, but Deirdre continues to visit the doctor with Augusten (now played by Joseph Cross), who is [fascinated] by this odd, Santa Claus-like figure.



forestall 

–verb (used with object) 

1. to prevent, hinder, 

or 

thwart by action in advance: to forestall a [riot] by deploying police.  



No less eccentric are the house's inhabitants: Dr. Finch's wife Agnes (Jill Clayburgh), who watches "Dark Shadows" and eats kibble; his older daughter Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow), who makes every decision by pointing at a word in the Bible [at] random and interpreting it [accordingly]; and fiery younger daughter Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood), whose heavy eye shadow signals her more rebellious nature.



kibble

to grind or divide into particles 

or 

pellets, as coarse-ground meal or prepared dry dog food.



Making his feature writing and helming debut, Murphy (the force behind FX's plastic surgery drama "Nip/Tuck") has pared Burroughs' anecdotal tome down [to] a choice selection of humorous episodes, excising several characters.





mitigate

mollify, allay, appease

militate

have effect or influence

This criticism in no way militates [against] your going ahead with your research. 



expunge

an altruistic priest who believes that any sin can be [expunged] by a good [dose] of faith.

pare

Weir has pared seven minutes [from] an already lean and evasive film. 

to pare [down] one's expenses. 

shear

that the picture was [shorn] of 22 minutes for its American release.

to shear [wool] from [sheep].  

Nubile