use
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: Christianity
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Italic *oissos
Latin ūsus
Old French usbor.
Middle English use
English use
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; as well as 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).
Inflected forms:
form: uses
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: uses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: using
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: used
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: used
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: use
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: use
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: used
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: use
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: usest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: used
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: usedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: uses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: useth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: used
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: use
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: used
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: use
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: used
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: use
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: using
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: used
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: The act of using.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The use of torture has been condemned by the United Nations.
[…]long john underwear, heavy socks, rubber boots, thick flannel shirts, oilskins — it all wore and tore and sprung holes from the hard use of battling storm and bad weather.
In his submission to the UN, 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.
gloss: The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Heavy alcohol use (2.5 drinks per day or more) at any age is unhealthy and should be avoided.
gloss: Usefulness, benefit.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: What's the use of a law that nobody follows?
God made two great lights, great for their use / To man.
'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense.
gloss: A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: This tool has many uses.
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.
gloss: Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I have no further use for these textbooks.
gloss: Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
rare
uncountable
examples: 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: [...]
Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.
gloss: Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
uncountable
examples: Let later age that noble vse enuie,
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!
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.
gloss: Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: O Caesar! these things are beyond all use.
gloss: A special form of a rite adopted for use in a particular context, often a diocese.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the York use; the Ordinariate use
From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: To utilize or employ.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Use this knife to slice the bread.
We can use this mathematical formula to solve the problem.
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.
gloss: To utilize or employ.
pos: verb
tags: often
transitive
with-up
examples: I used the money they allotted me.
We should use up most of the fuel.
She used all the time allotted to complete the test.
gloss: To utilize or employ.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: You never cared about me; you just used me!
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.
gloss: To utilize or employ.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He uses cocaine.
I have never used drugs.
gloss: To utilize or employ.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Richard began experimenting with cocaine last year; now he uses almost every day.
gloss: To utilize or employ.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I could use a drink.
My car could use a new coat of paint.
gloss: To utilize or employ.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I use they/them pronouns.
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.
gloss: To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
pos: verb
examples: soldiers who are used to hardships and danger
to use the soldiers to hardships and danger
Thou with thy compeers, / Used to the yoke, draw’st his triumphant wheels.
gloss: To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
reflexive
examples: 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
We are not long in using ourselves to changes in life.
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.
gloss: To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: I used to get things done.
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.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
For in the Rites of funeration they did use to anoint the dead body, with Aromatick Spices and Oyntments, before they buried them.
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.
Such smokes use ever to go before the fire.
gloss: To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
pos: verb
tags: dated
examples: to use an animal cruelly
See who it is: and, now the battle’s ended,
If friend or foe, let him be gently used.
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
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 […]
Cato has used me Ill: He has refused / His Daughter Marcia to my ardent Vows.
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.
“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.”
"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.
gloss: To behave, act, comport oneself.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
reflexive
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.
Derived words: 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
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
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
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
useless
usement
use tax
use value
value in use
what's the use
disuse
misuse
reuse
useful
abuse
could use
usability
usable
usage
use a sledgehammer to crack a nut
use-by date
used
used to
usee
use in anger
use it
use it or lose it
use one's coconut
use one's head
use one's loaf
use one's noggin
user
use the bathroom
use the master's tools to dismantle the master's house
use the potty
use the restroom
use the toilet
use the user
use the washroom
use up
use your words
Translations: