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usagemore about usage

usage


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Usage  \Us"age\,  n.  [F.  usage,  LL  usaticum  See  {Use}.] 
  1.  The  act  of  using;  mode  of  using  or  treating;  treatment; 
  conduct  with  respect  to  a  person  or  a  thing  as  good 
  usage;  ill  usage;  hard  usage. 
 
  My  brother  Is  prisoner  to  the  bishop  here  at  whose 
  hands  He  hath  good  usage  and  great  liberty.  --Shak. 
 
  2.  Manners;  conduct;  behavior.  [Obs.] 
 
  A  gentle  nymph  was  found  Hight  Astery,  excelling 
  all  the  crew  In  courteous  usage.  --Spenser. 
 
  3.  Long-continued  practice;  customary  mode  of  procedure; 
  custom;  habitual  use  method.  --Chaucer. 
 
  It  has  now  been  during  many  years,  the  grave  and 
  decorous  usage  of  Parliaments  to  hear,  in  respectful 
  silence,  all  expressions,  acceptable  or 
  unacceptable,  which  are  uttered  from  the  throne. 
  --Macaulay. 
 
  4.  Customary  use  or  employment,  as  of  a  word  or  phrase  in  a 
  particular  sense  or  signification. 
 
  5.  Experience.  [Obs.] 
 
  In  eld  [old  age]  is  both  wisdom  and  usage. 
  --Chaucer. 
 
  Syn:  Custom;  use  habit. 
 
  Usage:  {Usage},  {Custom}.  These  words  as  here  compared, 
  agree  in  expressing  the  idea  of  habitual  practice;  but 
  a  custom  is  not  necessarily  a  usage.  A  custom  may 
  belong  to  many  or  to  a  single  individual.  A  usage 
  properly  belongs  to  the  great  body  of  a  people.  Hence 
  we  speak  of  usage,  not  of  custom,  as  the  law  of 
  language.  Again  a  custom  is  merely  that  which  has 
  been  often  repeated,  so  as  to  have  become  in  a  good 
  degree,  established.  A  usage  must  be  both  often 
  repeated  and  of  long  standing.  Hence  we  speak  of  a 
  ``hew  custom,''  but  not  of  a  ``new  usage.''  Thus 
  also  the  ``customs  of  society''  is  not  so  strong  an 
  expression  as  the  ``usages  of  society.''  ``Custom,  a 
  greater  power  than  nature,  seldom  fails  to  make  them 
  worship.''  --Locke.  ``Of  things  once  received  and 
  confirmed  by  use  long  usage  is  a  law  sufficient.'' 
  --Hooker.  In  law,  the  words  usage  and  custom  are  often 
  used  interchangeably,  but  the  word  custom  also  has  a 
  technical  and  restricted  sense  See  {Custom},  n.,  3. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  usage 
  n  1:  the  act  of  using;  "the  steps  were  worn  from  years  of  use" 
  [syn:  {use},  {utilization},  {utilisation},  {employment}, 
  {exercise}] 
  2:  accepted  practice  [syn:  {custom}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  USAGE,  n.  The  First  Person  of  the  literary  Trinity,  the  Second  and 
  Third  being  Custom  and  Conventionality.  Imbued  with  a  decent 
  reverence  for  this  Holy  Triad  an  industrious  writer  may  hope  to 
  produce  books  that  will  live  as  long  as  the  fashion. 
 
 




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