use
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: yo͞oz
ipa: /juːz/
ipa: /juːs/
enpr: yo͞oz
ipa: /juz/
ipa: /jus/
enpr: yo͞os
ipa: /jʉːz/
ipa: /juːz/
note: Ottawa Valley
ipa: /(j)ɪu̯z/
homophone: ewes
homophone: yews (in most accents)
homophone: yous
homophone: youse
rhymes: -uːz
Forms: form: uses
form: using
form: used
form: used
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: use
form: use
form: used
form: use
form: usest
form: used
form: usedst
form: uses
form: useth
form: used
form: use
form: used
form: use
form: used
form: use
form: -
form: using
form: used
Etymology: Noun from Middle English use, from Old French us, from Latin ūsus (“use, custom, skill, habit”), from past participle stem of ūtor (“use”). Displaced native Middle English note (“use”) (see note) from Old English notu, Middle English nutte (“use”) from Old English nytt, Old English fricu, and Old English sidu.
Verb from Middle English usen, from Old French user (“use, employ, practice”), from Medieval Latin usare (“use”), frequentative form of past participle stem of Latin uti (“to use”). Displaced 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).
Senses: examples: text: Use this knife to slice the bread.
text: We can use this mathematical formula to solve the problem.
text: Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
ref: 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
glosses: To utilize or employ.
To employ; to apply; to utilize.
examples: text: I used the money they allotted me.
text: We should use up most of the fuel.
text: She used all the time allotted to complete the test.
glosses: To utilize or employ.
To expend; to consume by employing.
examples: text: You never cared about me; you just used me!
text: Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.
ref: 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:
glosses: To utilize or employ.
To exploit.
examples: text: He uses cocaine.
text: I have never used drugs.
glosses: To utilize or employ.
To consume (alcohol, drugs, etc), especially regularly.
examples: text: Richard began experimenting with cocaine last year; now he uses almost every day.
glosses: To utilize or employ.
To consume a previously specified substance, especially a drug to which one is addicted.
examples: text: I could use a drink.
text: My car could use a new coat of paint.
glosses: To utilize or employ.
To benefit from; to be able to employ or stand.
raw_tags: with auxiliary "could"
examples: text: I use they/them pronouns.
translation: I suggest or request that others use the pronouns they/them when referring to me.
english: I suggest or request that others use the pronouns they/them when referring to me.
text: The "Older" [butch] group is maintained by three administrators who all use she/her pronouns and two moderators, one of whom uses they'them pronouns while the other uses she/her.
ref: 2023, Brianna I. Wiens, Michelle MacArthur, Shana MacDonald, Milena Radzikowska, Stories of Feminist Protest and Resistance: Digital Performative Assemblies, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 92:
glosses: To utilize or employ.
To suggest or request that other people employ a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.
synonyms: go by
raw_tags: with gender pronouns as object
examples: raw_tags: still common
text: soldiers who are used to hardships and danger
raw_tags: now rare
text: to use the soldiers to hardships and danger
text: Thou with thy compeers, / Used to the yoke, draw’st his triumphant wheels.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
glosses: To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
examples: text: It is not without some difficulty, that a man born in society can form an idea of such savages, and their condition; and unless he has used himself to abstract thinking, he can hardly represent to himself such a state of simplicity, in which man can have so few desires, and no appetites roving beyond the immediate call of untaught nature […]
ref: 1714, Bernard Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees, London: T. Ostell, published 1806, Sixth Dialogue, p. 466:
text: 1742, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, London: S. Richardson, 4th edition, Volume 3, Letter 12, p. 53,
So that reading constantly, and thus using yourself to write, and enjoying besides the Benefit of a good Memory, every thing you heard or read, became your own […]
text: 1769, John Leland, Discourses on Various Subjects, London: W. Johnston and J. Dodsley, Volume 1, Discourse 16, p. 311,
[…] we must be constant and faithful to our Words and Promises, and use ourselves to be so even in smaller Matters […]
text: We are not long in using ourselves to changes in life.
ref: 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
text: The family troubles, she thought, were easier for every one than for her—even for poor dear mamma, because she had always used herself to not enjoying.
ref: 1876, George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Book 3, Chapter 24:
glosses: To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
To accustom oneself.
raw_tags: with "to"
examples: text: I used to get things done.
text: Peter Pol, doctor in divinitie used to sit upon his mule, who as Monstrelet reporteth, was wont to ride up and downe the streets of Paris, ever sitting sideling, as women use.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 48, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
text: Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Peter 4:9:
text: For in the Rites of funeration they did use to anoint the dead body, with Aromatick Spices and Oyntments, before they buried them.
ref: 1693, Sir Norman Knatchbull, Annotations upon some difficult texts in all the books of the New Testament:
text: I do not use to let my wife be acquainted with the secret affairs of my state; they are not within a woman’s province.
ref: 1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section II:
text: Such smokes use ever to go before the fire.
ref: 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 8:
qualifier: archaic or literary except in past tense
glosses: To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)
examples: text: to use an animal cruelly
text: See who it is: and, now the battle’s ended,
If friend or foe, let him be gently used.
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:
text: Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 6:28:
text: If in my flower of youth and strength, when all men / Lov’d, honour’d, fear’d me, thou alone could hate me / Thy Husband, slight me, sell me, forgo me; / How wouldst thou use me now, blind, and thereby / Deceivable […]
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC:
text: Cato has used me Ill: He has refused / His Daughter Marcia to my ardent Vows.
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 6:
text: This is an exact Inventory of what we found about the Body of the Man-Mountain, who uſed us with great Civility, and due Reſpect to your Majefty's Commiſſion.
ref: 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Emperor of Lilliput, Attended by Several of the Nobility, Come to See the Author in His Confinement. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 43:
text: “I hope,” said Jones, “you don’t intend to leave me in this condition.” “Indeed but I shall,” said the other. “Then,” said Jones, “you have used me rascally, and I will not pay you a farthing.”
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III:
text: "Oh, how dare you, or any one, to speak of her so! She used me as if I had been her dearest child. She was more kind to me than a mother. There is no one in the world like her!" Mary cried.
ref: 1884, Margaret Oliphant, Old Lady Mary:
glosses: To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
examples: 1551, Thomas More, Utopia, London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet, 1639, “Of Bond-men, Sicke persons, Wedlocke, and divers other matters,” page 231,
They live together lovingly: For no Magistrate is either haughty or fearefull. Fathers they be called, and like fathers they use themselves.
c. 1558, George Cavendish, The Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, cardinal, edited by Grace H. M. Simpson, London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1901, page 57,
I pray to God that this may be a sufficient admonition unto thee to use thyself more wisely hereafter, for assure thyself that if thou dost not amend thy prodigality, thou wilt be the last Earl of our house.
glosses: To behave, act, comport oneself.
Synonyms: sense: employ, apply, utilize
word: apply
sense: employ, apply, utilize
word: employ
sense: employ, apply, utilize
word: engage
sense: employ, apply, utilize
word: utilise
sense: employ, apply, utilize
word: utilize
sense: exploit
word: exploit
sense: exploit
word: take advantage of
Derived terms: word: abuse
word: could use
word: disuse
word: misuse
word: reuse
word: usability
word: usable
word: usage
word: use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
word: use-by date
word: used
word: used to
word: useful
word: use in anger
word: use it
word: use it or lose it
word: use one's coconut
word: use one's head
word: use one's loaf
word: use one's noggin
word: user
word: use the bathroom
word: use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house
word: use the potty
word: use the restroom
word: use the toilet
word: use the user
word: use the washroom
word: use up
word: use your words