customs

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The government office at a border or airport that checks goods coming into a country.

   We had to wait in line at customs after our flight landed.

2. 2
   noun

   The taxes you pay on goods brought into a country.

   He had to pay customs on the watches he bought abroad.

3. 3
   noun

   The check you go through at a border before entering a country.

   After we cleared customs, our friends met us outside.

Plural of custom. Perhaps influenced by or taken as a corruption of customhouse, from Middle English custome hous.

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