Fumage
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Hearth tax. historical, uncountable
"As early as the conquest mention is made in domesday book of fumage or fuage, vulgarly called smoke farthings; which were paid by custom to the king for every chimney in the house"
- 2 A surrealist art technique, devised by Wolfgang Paalen, in which impressions are made by the smoke of a candle or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas. uncountable
"2013, Whitney Sherman, Playing with Sketches, The Quarto Group (Rockport Publishers), page 32, Fumage is not a frequently used drawing technique, but when used it can produce a subtle and mysterious effect. One notable twentieth-century fumage artist was banker Hugh Parker Guiler, spouse of diarist Anaïs Nin."
Example
More examples"As early as the conquest mention is made in domesday book of fumage or fuage, vulgarly called smoke farthings; which were paid by custom to the king for every chimney in the house"
Etymology
From Old French fumage, fumaige, from Latin fumus (“smoke”).