usage
NounWordNet 3.0
Noun (3)
- the act of using“he warned against the use of narcotic drugs”“skilled in the utilization of computers”Synonyms: useutilizationutilisationemploymentexercise
- accepted or habitual practiceSynonyms: customusance
- the customary manner in which a language (or a form of a language) is spoken or written“English usage”“a usage borrowed from French”
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
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. [1913 Webster]
My brother Is prisoner to the bishop here, at whose hands He hath good usage and great liberty.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
2.Manners; conduct; behavior. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
A gentle nymph was found, Hight Astery, excelling all the crew In courteous usage.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]
3.Long-continued practice; customary mode of procedure; custom; habitual use; method. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
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.[1913 Webster]
4.Customary use or employment, as of a word or phrase in a particular sense or signification. [1913 Webster]
5.Experience. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
In eld [old age] is both wisdom and usage.— Chaucer.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster] [1913 Webster]