Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To put into service or employ for a purpose.
  • intransitive verb To avail oneself of; practice.
  • intransitive verb To conduct oneself toward; treat or handle.
  • intransitive verb To seek or achieve an end by means of; exploit.
  • intransitive verb To take or consume for a purpose.
  • intransitive verb To partake of, especially as a habit.
  • intransitive verb Used in the past tense followed by to in order to indicate a former state, habitual practice, or custom.
  • intransitive verb Slang To take an illegal or narcotic drug, especially as a habit.
  • noun The act of using something; the application or employment of something for a purpose.
  • noun The condition or fact of being used.
  • noun The manner of using; usage.
  • noun The permission, privilege, or benefit of using something.
  • noun The power or ability to use something.
  • noun The need or occasion to use or employ something.
  • noun The quality of being suitable or adaptable to an end; usefulness.
  • noun A purpose for which something is used.
  • noun Gain or advantage; good.
  • noun Accustomed or usual procedure or practice.
  • noun A particular custom or practice.
  • noun Enjoyment of property, as by occupying or employing it.
  • noun The benefit or profit of lands and tenements of which the legal title is vested in another.
  • noun The arrangement establishing the equitable right to such benefits and profits.
  • noun A liturgical form practiced in a particular church, ecclesiastical district, or community.
  • idiom (make use of) To use for a purpose.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To employ for the attainment of some purpose or end; avail one's self of.
  • To employ; expend; consume; as, to use flour for food; to use water for irrigation.
  • To practise or employ, in a general way; do, exercise, etc.
  • To practise customarily; make a practice of.
  • To act or behave toward; treat; as, to use one well or ill.
  • To accustom; habituate; render familiar by practice; inure: common in the past participle: as, soldiers used to hardships.
  • To frequent; visit often or habitually.
  • To comport; behave; demean: used reflexively.
  • To have sexual intercourse with.
  • To exhaust, as one's means or strength; wear out; leave no force or capacity in; as, the man is completely used up.
  • To be accustomed; practise customarily; be in the habit; as, he used to go there regularly.
  • To be wont; be customary; customarily be, do, or effect something specified.
  • To be accustomed to go; linger or stay habitually; dwell.
  • To communicate; receive the eucharist.
  • noun plural Rough iron forgings sold to be subsequently worked down into finished shapes in the forge, or heating furnace, by hammer or press. They are used also for porter-bars, or to build up larger forgings not made from an ingot.
  • noun In law, the benefit or profit (with power to direct disposal) of property—technically of lands and tenements—in the possession of another who simply holds them for the beneficiary; the equitable ownership of lands the legal title to which is in another.
  • noun Charitable uses, Charitable Uses Act.
  • noun In customary practice or observance.
  • noun a use, confidence, or trust in any hereditaments should be deemed and adjudged in lawful seizin, estate, and possession of the same estate that he had in use—that is, that he, instead of the nominal grantee or trustee, should become the full legal owner. This principle has been adopted by provisions, known by the same title, in the legislation of most of the United States.
  • noun The act of employing anything, or the state of being employed; employment; application; conversion to a purpose, especially a profitable purpose.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English usen, from Old French user, from Vulgar Latin *ūsāre, frequentative of Latin ūtī. N., Middle English, from Old French us, from Latin ūsus, from past participle of ūtī.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English use, from Old French us, from Latin usus ("use, custom, skill, habit"), from past participle stem of uti ("use"). Replaced native Middle English note ("use") (See note) from Old English notu, and Middle English nutte ("use") from Old English nytt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English usen, from Old French user ("use, employ, practice"), from Vulgar Latin *usare (“use”), frequentative form of past participle stem of Latin uti ("to use"). Replaced native Middle English noten, nutten ("to use") (from Old English notian, nēotan, nyttian) and Middle English brouken, bruken ("to use, enjoy") (from Old English brūcan).

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