Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Use?

\Use\, n. [OE. us use, usage, L. usus, from uti, p. p. usus, to use. See {Use}, v. t.] 1. The act of employing anything, or of applying it to one's service; the state of being so employed or applied; application; employment; conversion to some purpose; as, the use of a pen in writing; his machines are in general use. Books can never teach the use of books. --Bacon. This Davy serves you for good uses. --Shak. When he framed All things to man's delightful use. --Milton. 2. Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book. --Shak. 3. Yielding of service; advantage derived; capability of being used; usefulness; utility. God made two great lights, great for their use To man. --Milton. 'T is use alone that sanctifies expense. --Pope. 4. Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom; manner; habit. Let later age that noble use envy. --Spenser. How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, Seem to me all the uses of this world! --Shak. 5. Common occurrence; ordinary experience. [R.] O C[ae]sar! these things are beyond all use. --Shak. 6. (Eccl.) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese; as, the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the Hereford use; the York use; the Roman use; etc. From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use. --Pref. to Book of Common Prayer. 7. The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest; usury. [Obs.] Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him. --Jer. Taylor. 8. [In this sense probably a corruption of OF. oes, fr. L. opus need, business, employment, work. Cf. {Operate}.] (Law) The benefit or profit of lands and tenements. Use imports a trust and confidence reposed in a man for the holding of lands. He to whose use or benefit the trust is intended shall enjoy the profits. An estate is granted and limited to A for the use of B. 9. (Forging) A stab of iron welded to the side of a forging, as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging. {Contingent}, or {Springing}, {use} (Law), a use to come into operation on a future uncertain event. {In use}. (a) In employment; in customary practice observance. (b) In heat; -- said especially of mares. --J. H. Walsh. {Of no use}, useless; of no advantage. {Of use}, useful; of advantage; profitable. {Out of use}, not in employment. {Resulting use} (Law), a use, which, being limited by the deed, expires or can not vest, and results or returns to him who raised it, after such expiration. {Secondary}, or {Shifting}, {use}, a use which, though executed, may change from one to another by circumstances. --Blackstone. {Statute of uses} (Eng. Law), the stat. 27 Henry VIII., cap. 10, which transfers uses into possession, or which unites the use and possession. {To make use of}, {To put to use}, to employ; to derive service from; to use.
\Use\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Used}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Using}.] [OE. usen, F. user to use, use up, wear out, LL. usare to use, from L. uti, p. p. usus, to use, OL. oeti, oesus; of uncertain origin. Cf. {Utility}.] 1. To make use of; to convert to one's service; to avail one's self of; to employ; to put a purpose; as, to use a plow; to use a chair; to use time; to use flour for food; to use water for irrigation. Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs. --Shak. Some other means I have which may be used. --Milton. 2. To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat; as, to use a beast cruelly. ``I will use him well.'' --Shak. How wouldst thou use me now? --Milton. Cato has used me ill. --Addison. 3. To practice customarily; to make a practice of; as, to use diligence in business. Use hospitality one to another. --1 Pet. iv. 9. 4. To accustom; to habituate; to render familiar by practice; to inure; -- employed chiefly in the passive participle; as, men used to cold and hunger; soldiers used to hardships and danger. I am so used in the fire to blow. --Chaucer. Thou with thy compeers, Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels. --Milton. {To use one's self}, to behave. [Obs.] ``Pray, forgive me, if I have used myself unmannerly.'' --Shak. {To use up}. (a) To consume or exhaust by using; to leave nothing of; as, to use up the supplies. (b) To exhaust; to tire out; to leave no capacity of force or use in; to overthrow; as, he was used up by fatigue. [Colloq.] Syn: Employ. Usage: {Use}, {Employ}. We use a thing, or make use of it, when we derive from it some enjoyment or service. We employ it when we turn that service into a particular channel. We use words to express our general meaning; we employ certain technical terms in reference to a given subject. To make use of, implies passivity in the thing; as, to make use of a pen; and hence there is often a material difference between the two words when applied to persons. To speak of ``making use of another'' generally implies a degrading idea, as if we had used him as a tool; while employ has no such sense. A confidential friend is employed to negotiate; an inferior agent is made use of on an intrigue. I would, my son, that thou wouldst use the power Which thy discretion gives thee, to control And manage all. --Cowper. To study nature will thy time employ: Knowledge and innocence are perfect joy. --Dryden.
\Use\, v. i. 1. To be wont or accustomed; to be in the habit or practice; as, he used to ride daily; -- now disused in the present tense, perhaps because of the similarity in sound, between ``use to,'' and ``used to.'' They use to place him that shall be their captain on a stone. --Spenser. Fears use to be represented in an imaginary. --Bacon. Thus we use to say, it is the room that smokes, when indeed it is the fire in the room. --South. Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp. --Ex. xxxiii. 7 (Rev. Ver.) 2. To be accustomed to go; to frequent; to inhabit; to dwell; -- sometimes followed by of. [Obs.] ``Where never foot did use.'' --Spenser. He useth every day to a merchant's house. --B. Jonson. Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks. --Milton.