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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

4 entries under this word

Custom

Cūs'tom, n.

noun

n. [O. Fr. coustume, now coutume, It. costume, costuma, Pr. costum, costuma, costumanza, Sp. costumbre, Pg. costume, L. Lat. costuma, costumia, cosduma, cosduna, &c., from Lat. consuetudo, gen. consuetudinis, but properly from a later secondary form consuetumen, custom, habit. See CONSUETUDE, and cf. Sp. mansedumbre, Pg. mansedume, from Lat. mansuetudo.]

Sense 1. Frequent repetition of the same act; way of acting; ordinary manner; habitual practice; usage.

Custom differeth from use as the cause from the effect, in that custom is by use and continuance established into a law. Raleigh.

A custom

More honored in the breach than the observance. Shak.

Sense 2. Habitual buying of goods; practice of frequenting, as a shop, manufactory, &c., and making purchases or giving orders; business support; patronage; as, a good run of custom.

Let him have your custom, but not your votes. Addison.

Sense 3. (Law.) Long-established practice, or usage, considered as unwritten law, and resting for authority on long consent.

The distinction between custom and prescription is, that the former is common to many, the latter is peculiar to an individual. Burvill.

Custom of merchants, a system or code of customs by which the affairs of commerce are regulated.—General customs, those which extend over a state or kingdom.—Particular customs, those which are limited to a city or district.

Synonyms—Habit; usage; practice; fashion. See HABIT.

Cŭs'tom, v. t.

verbtransitive

[See ACCUSTOM.] 1. To make familiar. [Obs.] 2. To pay custom for. These ships which, when you went, put out to sea, Are now returned and customed have their freight. Drayton.

Cŭs'tom, v. i.

verbintransitive

To accustom. One morn I missed him on the customed hill. Gray.

Cŭs'tom, n.

noun

n. [O. Fr. cou­stume, Fr. coutume, tax, i. e., the usual tax.] 1. The customary toll, tax, or tribute. Render, therefore, to all their dues, . . . custom to whom custom. Rom. xiii. 7. 2. (pl.) Duties imposed on commodities on their being imported into or exported from the country. [Eng. and U. S.] To pay custom for, to levy custom on.