use
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: yo͞os
ipa: /juːs/
enpr: yo͞os
ipa: /jus/
enpr: yo͞os
ipa: /jʉːs/
ipa: /juːs/
note: Ottawa Valley
ipa: /(j)ɪu̯s/
ipa: /jʉs/
rhymes: -uːs
Forms: form: uses
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: The use of torture has been condemned by the United Nations.
text: In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.
ref: 2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:
synonyms: employment
usage
note
nait
glosses: The act of using.
examples: text: Heavy alcohol use (2.5 drinks per day or more) at any age is unhealthy and should be avoided.
ref: 2018, Timothy R. Jennings, The Aging Brain, →ISBN, page 93:
glosses: The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
examples: text: What's the use of a law that nobody follows?
text: God made two great lights, great for their use / To man.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, 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:
text: 'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.
ref: 1731, Alexander Pope, “Epistle IV: Of the Use of Riches”, in Moral Essays; republished in The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1902, page 173:
synonyms: benefit
good
point
usefulness
utility
note
nait
glosses: Usefulness, benefit.
raw_tags: followed by "of"
examples: text: This tool has many uses.
text: The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
ref: 2013 July 26, Leo Hickman, “How algorithms rule the world”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 26:
glosses: A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
examples: text: I have no further use for these textbooks.
glosses: Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
examples: text: DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick.
BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: [...]
ref: 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
ref: 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:
glosses: Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
examples: text: Let later age that noble vse enuie,
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13:
text: How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
text: For the next yeere 1527. the negotiations of a Councell were buried in silence; according to the vse of humane affaires, that in the time of warre, prouision for lawes hath no place.
ref: 1629 [1619], Paolo Sarpi, translated by Nathaniel Brent, The Historie of the Councel of Trent […], London: Bonham Norton and John Bill, →OCLC, book 1, paragraph 96, page 43:
glosses: Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
examples: text: O Caesar! these things are beyond all use.
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
glosses: Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
examples: text: the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the York use; the Ordinariate use
text: From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.
ref: 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:
topics: Christianity
glosses: A special form of a rite adopted for use in a particular context, often a diocese.
qualifier: forging
glosses: A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.
Hyponyms: fair use
misuse
reuse
underuse
Derived terms: alcohol use disorder
as much use as a chocolate fireguard
as much use as a chocolate teapot
caffeine use disorder
can I use your phone
cestuy que use
come in use
compassionate use
disuse
do you need to use the bathroom
drug use
dual-use
dual-use research of concern
free use
go out of use
have no use for
hyper-use
ill-use
in-use
in use
it's no use
land-use
land use
make use
meanwhile use
misuse
mixed-use
neither use nor ornament
non-use
no use
of any use
of some use
of use
old use
out of use
overuse
point of use
private-use character
put to good use
put to use
reuse
shared use path
single-use
terms of use
therapeutic use exemption
there's no use
there's no use crying over spilt milk
time-of-check to time-of-use
time-of-use meter
time-of-use rates
time-use
time-use research
time-use survey
tolerated use
underuse
use and wont
use case
useful
useless
usement
use tax
use value
value in use
what's the use