GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Use , n. [OE. us use, usage, L. usus, from uti, p. p. usus, to use. See Use, v. t.]
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   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.
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   Books can never teach the use of books.
   Bacon.
   
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   This Davy serves you for good uses.
   Shak.
   
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   When he framed
   All things to man's delightful use.
   Milton.
   
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   Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book.
   Shak.
   
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   Yielding of service; advantage derived; capability of being used; usefulness; utility.
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   God made two great lights, great for their use
   To man.
   Milton.
   
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   'T is use alone that sanctifies expense.
   Pope.
   
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   Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom; manner; habit.
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   Let later age that noble use envy.
   Spenser.
   
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   How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
   Seem to me all the uses of this world!
   Shak.
   
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   Common occurrence; ordinary experience. [R.]
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   O Caesar! these things are beyond all use.
   Shak.
   
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   (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.
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   From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.
   Pref. to Book of Common Prayer.
   
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   The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest; usury. [Obs.]
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   Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
   Jer. Taylor.
   
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   [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.
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   (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.
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   Contingent use, 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 use, 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.
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2.       
   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.]
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   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.
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   Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs.
   Shak.
   
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   Some other means I have which may be used.
   Milton.
   
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   To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat; as, to use a beast cruelly. “I will use him well.”  
   Shak.
   
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   How wouldst thou use me now?
   Milton.
   
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   Cato has used me ill.
   Addison.
   
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   To practice customarily; to make a practice of; as, to use diligence in business.
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   Use hospitality one to another.
   1 Pet. iv. 9.
   
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   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.
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   I am so used in the fire to blow.
   Chaucer.
   
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   Thou with thy compeers,
   Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels.
   Milton.
   
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   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.]
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   Syn. -- Employ.  -- 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.
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   I would, my son, that thou wouldst use the power
   Which thy discretion gives thee, to control
   And manage all.
   Cowper.
   
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   To study nature will thy time employ:
   Knowledge and innocence are perfect joy.
   Dryden.
   
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3.       
   Use , v. i.
   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.”
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   They use to place him that shall be their captain on a stone.
   Spenser.
   
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   Fears use to be represented in an imaginary.
   Bacon.
   
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   Thus we use to say, it is the room that smokes, when indeed it is the fire in the room.
   South.
   
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   Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp.
   Ex. xxxiii. 7 (Rev. Ver.)
   
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   To be accustomed to go; to frequent; to inhabit; to dwell; -- sometimes followed by of. [Obs.] “Where never foot did use.”  
   Spenser.
   
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   He useth every day to a merchant's house.
   B. Jonson.
   
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   Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
   Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks.
   Milton.
   
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