lowage

English

Etymology

Possibly from the French adjective louage (“hiring”) (Oxford English Dictionary), or a corruption of levage (Calvert, 1978).

Noun

lowage (countable and uncountable, plural lowages)

1. (archaic) A charge on shipping.
   • 1840, The parliamentary gazetteer of England and Wales. 4 vols. : "Kingston-Upon-Hull" - 'Trinity House Guild', p.575‎^[1]:

     […] granted and assigned all their loadenage or lowage, and stowage, now called primage, dues, inward or outward of the said port […]

References

• In A history of Kingston upon Hull: from the earliest times to the present day (Hugh Calvert, 1978): "Lowage (corruption of 'levage') refers to the payments, originally gratuities, made to the master and ship's company for unloading cargo".