use
verb
- utilize; employ; apply
- expend; consume by employing
- exploit
- consume (alcohol, drugs, etc), especially regularly
- consume a previously specified substance, especially a drug to which one is addicted
- benefit from; be able to employ
- habitually do (often as "used to", followed by a verb)
- accustom; habituate (often as "used to", followed by a noun)
- modal
noun
- use of a resource to perform a task
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /juːs/ / /jus/ / [jɪu̯s]
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Italic *oissos Latin ūsus Old French usbor. Middle English use English use 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; as well as 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).
- The act of using.
“The use of torture has been condemned by the United Nations.”
“[…]long john underwear, heavy socks, rubber boots, thick flannel shirts, oilskins — it all wore and tore and sprung holes from the hard use of battling storm and bad weather.”
- The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.
“Heavy alcohol use (2.5 drinks per day or more) at any age is unhealthy and should be avoided.”
- Usefulness, benefit.
“What's the use of a law that nobody follows?”
“God made two great lights, great for their use / To man.”
- A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.
“This tool has many uses.”
“The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.”
- Occasion or need to employ; necessity.
“I have no further use for these textbooks.”
- Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.
“DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick. BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: [...]”
“Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him.”
- Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.
“Let later age that noble vse enuie,”
“How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable, / Seem to me all the uses of this world!”
- Common occurrence; ordinary experience.
“O Caesar! these things are beyond all use.”
- A special form of a rite adopted for use in a particular context, often a diocese.
“the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the York use; the Ordinariate use”
“From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use.”
- 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.
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Italic *oissos Latin ūsus Old French usbor. Middle English use English use 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; as well as 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).
- To utilize or employ.
“Use this knife to slice the bread.”
“We can use this mathematical formula to solve the problem.”
- To utilize or employ.
“I used the money they allotted me.”
“We should use up most of the fuel.”
- To utilize or employ.
“You never cared about me; you just used me!”
“Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.”
- To utilize or employ.
“He uses cocaine.”
“I have never used drugs.”
- To utilize or employ.
“Richard began experimenting with cocaine last year; now he uses almost every day.”
- To utilize or employ.
“I could use a drink.”
“My car could use a new coat of paint.”
- To utilize or employ.
“I use they/them pronouns.”
“The "Older" [butch] group is maintained by three administrators who all use she/her pronouns and two moderators, one of whom uses they'them pronouns while the other uses she/her.”
- To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
“soldiers who are used to hardships and danger”
“to use the soldiers to hardships and danger”
- To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)
“It is not without some difficulty, that a man born in society can form an idea of such savages, and their condition; and unless he has used himself to abstract thinking, he can hardly represent to himself such a state of simplicity, in which man can have so few desires, and no appetites roving beyond the immediate call of untaught nature […]”
“1742, Samuel Richardson, Pamela, London: S. Richardson, 4th edition, Volume 3, Letter 12, p. 53, 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 […]”
- To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)
“I used to get things done.”
“Peter Pol, doctor in divinitie used to sit upon his mule, who as Monstrelet reporteth, was wont to ride up and downe the streets of Paris, ever sitting sideling, as women use.”
- To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.
“to use an animal cruelly”
“See who it is: and, now the battle’s ended, If friend or foe, let him be gently used.”
- 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, 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, 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.”