Definition of Use

  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book.
  • (v. t.) Yielding of service; advantage derived; capability of being used; usefulness; utility.
  • (v. t.) Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom; manner; habit.
  • (v. t.) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest; usury.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat; as, to use a beast cruelly.
  • (v. t.) To practice customarily; to make a practice of; as, to use diligence in business.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (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.\"
  • (v. i.) To be accustomed to go; to frequent; to inhabit; to dwell; -- sometimes followed by of.

Antonyms of Use


No Antonyms Found.

Homophones of Use