use

English Online Dictionary. What means use‎? What does use mean?

English

Etymology

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, 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).

Pronunciation

Noun

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo͞os, IPA^(key): /juːs/
• (US) enPR: yo͞os, IPA^(key): /jus/
• (General Australian) enPR: yo͞os, IPA^(key): /jʉːs/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /juːs/
  • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): /(j)ɪu̯s/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /jʉs/
• Rhymes: -uːs

Verb

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo͞oz, IPA^(key): /juːz/, /juːs/ (see usage notes)
• (General American) enPR: yo͞oz, IPA^(key): /juz/, /jus/ (see usage notes)
• (General Australian) enPR: yo͞os, IPA^(key): /jʉːz/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /juːz/
  • (Ottawa Valley) IPA^(key): /(j)ɪu̯z/
• Homophones: ewes, yews (in most accents), yous, youse
• Rhymes: -uːz

Noun

use (countable and uncountable, plural uses)

1. The act of using.

   Synonyms: employment, usage, note, nait
2. (uncountable) The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
3. (uncountable, followed by "of") Usefulness, benefit.

   Synonyms: benefit, good, point, usefulness, utility, note, nait
4. A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
5. Occasion or need to employ; necessity.

6. (obsolete, rare) Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
7. (archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
8. (obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
9. (Christianity) A special form of a rite adopted for use in a particular context, often a diocese.
10. (forging) 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.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

use (third-person singular simple present uses, present participle using, simple past and past participle used)

1. To utilize or employ.
   1. (transitive) To employ; to apply; to utilize.
   2. (transitive, often with up) To expend; to consume by employing.

   3. (transitive) To exploit.
   4. (transitive) To consume (alcohol, drugs, etc), especially regularly.

      He uses cocaine. I have never used drugs.

   5. (intransitive) To consume a previously specified substance, especially a drug to which one is addicted.

   6. (transitive, with auxiliary "could") To benefit from; to be able to employ or stand.

   7. (transitive, with gender pronouns as object) To suggest or request that other people employ a specific set of gender pronouns when referring to the subject.

      Synonym: go by
2. To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)

   (still common)

   (now rare)

   1. (reflexive, obsolete, with "to") To accustom oneself.
      • 1742, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, London: S. Richardson, 4th edition, Volume 3, Letter 12, p. 53,^[3]

        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,^[4]

        […] we must be constant and faithful to our Words and Promises, and use ourselves to be so even in smaller Matters […]
3. (intransitive, archaic or literary except in past tense) To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)

4. (dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
5. (reflexive, obsolete) To behave, act, comport oneself.
   • 1551, Thomas More, Utopia, London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet, 1639, “Of Bond-men, Sicke persons, Wedlocke, and divers other matters,” page 231,^[6]

     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,^[7]

     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.

Usage notes

• When meaning "accustom, habituate" or "habitually do (or employ)", the verb use is pronounced /juːs/ (like the noun use); these senses and hence this pronunciation is now found chiefly in the past tense or as a past participle (/juːst/), or in the (past) negative form did not use (as in I did not use to like her or the dragoons did not use [habituate, become habituated] to the Russian cold). In all other senses, it is pronounced /juːz/ (past tense/participle /juːzd/).
• See also the usage notes at used to (and use to) for more, especially on the use of this sense in interrogatives, negatives, and the past tense.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (employ, apply, utilize): apply, employ, engage, utilise, utilize
• (exploit): exploit, take advantage of

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Kashubian: juzowac (Canada, United States)
• → Russian: ю́зать (júzatʹ)

Translations

References

• “use”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• ESU, EUS, SEU, Sue, UEs, sue, ues

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• ussa, usse, uuse

Etymology

Contraction of us + hii.

Pronunciation

• (Zürich) IPA^(key): /ˈuzə/

Adverb

use

1. out

Asturian

Verb

use

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of usar

Chuukese

Etymology

From u- +‎ -se.

Pronoun

use

1. I do not

Adjective

use

1. I am not
2. I was not

Related terms

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /yz/

Verb

use

1. inflection of user:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Anagrams

• eus, sue, sué

Galician

Verb

use

1. inflection of usar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈu.ze/
• Rhymes: -uze
• Hyphenation: ù‧se

Adjective

use

1. feminine plural of uso

Anagrams

• Sue, sue

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈuː.se/, [ˈuːs̠ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈu.se/, [ˈuːs̬e]

Participle

ūse

1. vocative masculine singular of ūsus

Manx

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

use m (genitive singular use, plural useyn)

1. (finance) interest; usury

Derived terms

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: u‧se

Verb

use

1. inflection of usar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈuse/ [ˈu.se]
• Rhymes: -use
• Syllabification: u‧se

Verb

use

1. inflection of usar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Ternate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈ(ʔ)u.se]

Verb

use

1. (transitive) to pour out
2. (transitive) to throw away

Conjugation

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh