Definition of sumptuary

Email this page to a friend

< sumpter

sumptuous >

sump·tu·ar·y    (smpch-r) KEY 

ADJECTIVE:

1. Regulating or limiting personal expenditures.
2. 1. Regulating commercial or real-estate activities: sumptuary laws discouraging construction of large houses on small plots of land.
   2. Regulating personal behavior on moral or religious grounds: sumptuary laws forbidding gambling.

---

ETYMOLOGY:
Latin smpturius, from smptus, expense, from past participle of smere, to take, buy; see em- in Indo-European roots