> as lemmas

customs union n. a group of (usually neighbouring) countries imposing a common rate of customs duties on imports from other countries and (typically) allowing free trade between themselves; the formation of such a group; cf. free trade area n. at free trade n. Compounds 2, common market n. 1a [Compare German Zollverein (1821 or earlier, frequently in Deutscher Zollverein, denoting the group of countries which formed such a union under the leadership of Prussia; now chiefly historical), Zollunion (1830 with reference to the proposed formation of such a group by France and Belgium, 1833 or earlier with reference to a group of such countries led by Prussia).]