transitive verb used , using
- to put or bring into action or service; employ for or apply to a given purpose
- to practice; exercise: to use one's judgment
- to act or behave toward; treat: to use a friend badly
- to consume, expend, or exhaust by use: often with up: to use up one's energy
- to smoke or chew (tobacco)
- to take or consume habitually: to use drugs
- to make familiar; accustom: used in the passive with to: to become used to certain ways
- to exploit or treat (a person) as a means to some selfish end
Origin:
ME usen < OFr user < VL *usare < L usus, pp. of uti, to use
noun
- the act of using or the state of being used
- the power or ability to use: to regain the use of an injured hand
- the right or permission to use: to grant a neighbor the use of one's car
- the need, opportunity, or occasion to use: no further use for his services
- an instance or way of using
- the quality that makes a thing useful or suitable for a given purpose; advantage; usefulness; worth; utility
- the object, end, or purpose for which something is used
- function, service, or benefit
- constant, continued, customary, or habitual employment, practice, or exercise, or an instance of this; custom; habit; practice; wont
- the particular form of ritual or liturgy practiced in a given church, diocese, etc.
- Law
- the enjoyment of property, as from occupying, employing, or exercising it
Origin:
infl. by OFr ues, gain < L opus, a work
profit, benefit, or advantage, esp. that from lands and tenements held in trust by another
Origin:
ME & OFr us < L usus