Danegeld \Dane"geld`\, Danegelt \Dane"gelt`\, n. [AS. danegeld. See {Dane}, and {Geld}, n.] (Eng. Hist.) An annual tax formerly laid on the English nation to buy off the ravages of Danish invaders, or to maintain forces to oppose them. It afterward became a permanent tax, raised by an assessment, at first of one shilling, afterward of two shillings, upon every hide of land throughout the realm. --Wharton's Law Dict. Tomlins.