Use | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Use, n.

noun

n. [Lat. usus, from uti, usus, to use; It., Sp., & Pg. uso, Pr. & Fr. us.] 1. The act of employing any thing, or of applying it to one's service; application; employment; conversion to an act or purpose; as, the use of a pen in writing; the use of books in study; the use of a spade in digging. Books can never teach the use of books. Bacon. This Davy serves you for good uses. Shak. When he framed All things to man's delightful use. Milton.

Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book.
Yielding of service; advantage derived; usefulness; utility.

God made two great lights, great for their use To man. Milton. 'Tis use alone that sanctifies expense. Pope. 4. Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom. Let later age that noble use envy. Spencer. Sweetness, truth, and every grace Which time and use are wont to teach. Waller. How use doth breed a habit in a man! Shak. 5. Hence, common occurrence; ordinary experience. [Rare.] O Caesar, these things are beyond all use. Shak. 6. The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest. [Obs.] Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him. Bp. Taylor. 7. (Law.) The benefit or profit of lands and tenements. Use imports a trust and confidence reposed in a man for the holding of lands. He to whose use or benefit the trust is intended, shall enjoy the profits. An estate is granted and limited to A for the use of B. Cestuy que use (Law), the person who has the use of lands and tenements.—Contingent use, or springing use, a use made dependent on a future event.—In use, in employment; in customary practice or observance.—Of no use, useless; of no advantage.—Of use, useful; of advantage; profitable.—Out of use, not in employment.—Resulting use (Law), a use, which, being limited by the deed, expires or can not vest, and results or returns to him who raised it, after such expiration.—Secondary or shifting use, a use which, though executed, may change from one to another by circumstances. Blackstone.—Statute of uses (Eng. Law), the stat. 27 Henry VIII., cap. 10, which transfers uses into possession, or which unites the use and possession.—To make use of, to put to use, to employ; to derive service from; to use.

Ūse, v. t.

verbtransitive

(yuz), v. t. [imp. & p. p. USED; p. pr. & vb. n. USING.] [Fr. user, Pr. usar, uzar, Sp. & Pg. usar, It. usare, from Lat. uti, usus, to use.] 1. To make use of; to convert to one's service; to avail one's self of; to employ; to put to a purpose; as, to use a plow; to use a chair; to use a book; to use time; to use flour for food; to use water for irrigation. Lancelot Gobbo, use your legs. Shak. Some other means I have, which may be used. Milton. 2. To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat; as, to use one well or ill; to use a beast with cruelty. I will use him well. Shak. How wouldst thou use me now? Milton. Cato has used me ill. Addison. 3. To practice customarily. Use hospitality one to another. 1 Pet. iv. 9. 4. To accustom; to habituate; to render familiar by practice; as, men used to cold and hunger; soldiers used to hardships and danger. Thou, with thy compeers, Used to the yoke. Milton. To use one's self, to behave. [Obs.] Shak. — To use up, to consume or exhaust by using; to leave nothing of; and (inelegantly) to exhaust; to tire out; to leave no capacity of force or use in. Syn. — Employ. — USE, EMPLOY. We use a thing, or make use of it, when we derive from it some enjoyment or service. We employ it when we turn that service into a particular channel. We use words to express our general meaning; we employ certain technical terms in reference to a given subject. To make use of, implies passivity in the thing; as, to make use of a pen; and hence there is often a material difference between the two words when applied to persons. To speak of “making use of another” generally implies a degrading idea, as if we had used him as a tool; while employ has no such sense. A confidential friend is employed to negotiate; an inferior agent is made use of to carry on an intrigue. I would, my son, that thou wouldst use the power Which thy discretion gives thee to control And manage all. Cowper. To study nature will thy time employ: Knowledge and innocence are perfect joy. Dryden.

Use, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To be wont or accustomed; to practice customarily.

They use to place him that shall be their captain on a stone. Spencer.

Fears used to be represented in an imaginary fashion. Bacon.

Thus we use to say, it is the room that smokes, when indeed it is the fire in the room. South.

Sense 2. To be accustomed to go; to frequent; to inhabit; to dwell; — sometimes followed by of. [Obs.]

“Where never foot did use.” Spencer.

He useth every day to a merchant's house where I serve water. B. Jonson.

Where the mild whispers use Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks. Milton.