[a. Fr. abus:—L. abūsus, 1. wearing out, 2. misuse; n. of completed action from abūt-i. See ABUSE v.]
† 1. The process of using up or wearing out. Obs.
1539. Cranmer, Col. ii. 22. Touch not, tast not, handell not: whych all peryeshe thorow the very abuse [Wyclif vse. Tindale & 1611 vsinge].
2. Wrong or improper use, misuse, misapplication, perversion.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 709. These two wyll hym so vse Ichone in their abuse.
1602. Warner, Albion’s England (1612), IX. lii. 236. Yet things, that of themselues be good, abuse brings out of square.
1756. C. Lucas, On Waters, I. 29. I have observed the same from the abuse of Spa water.
1846. Mill, Logic (1868), I. ii. § 4. 29. Imitating him in this abuse of language.
1862. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const., i. 18. It would be a great abuse of terms to call the Venetian a Mixed Aristocracy.
1879. G. C. Harlan, Eyesight, vi. 78. It [tendency to short sight] may sometimes originate in later life from abuse of the eyes.
b. Rhet. Improper use of words, catachresis.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie (1869), 190. Catachresis, or the Figure of abuse … if for lacke of naturall and proper terme or worde we take another, neither naturall nor proper and do vntruly applie it to the thing which we would seeme to expresse.
a. 1716. South, 12 Serm. (1744), II. 93. The acception of the word amongst the Greeks and Latines … is through abuse and degeneration.
3. A bad or improper usage (i.e., a use which has become chronic), a corrupt practice.
1486. Caxton, Curial, 3. The abuses of the courte … ben suche that a man is neuer suffred tenhaunce hymself.
1550. Crowley, Last Trumpet, 615. Thou learned man, do not disdayne … Thy greate abuses to refrayne, And in thy callyng to go ryght.
1699. Dr. Tanner, in Pepys’ Diary, VI. 186. Some letters about the abuses of Christ’s Hospital.
a. 1745. Swift, Adv. of Reliq., Wks. 1824, VIII. 107. The nature of things is such, that, if abuses be not remedied, they will certainly increase.
1780. Burke, Sp. on Econ. Ref., Wks. III. 247. There is a time, when the hoary head of inveterate abuse will neither draw reverence, nor obtain protection.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., IV. 121. It seemed perfectly natural that he should defend abuses by which he profited.
† 4. Imposture, deceit; delusion. Obs.
1555. Fardle of Facions, Pref. 15. Some he [the deuell] reuersed into their former abuses and errours.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. vii. 51. Or is it some abuse? Or no such thing? Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. iv. 142. My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate feare, that wants hard vse.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xlv. Do the false prophets teach you such abuses?
† 5. Injury, wrong, ill-usage. Obs.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. iii. 188. Did I let passe th’ abuse done to my Neece? Ibid. (1598), Merry Wives, V. iii. 8. My husband will not reioyce so much at the abuse of Falstaffe, as he will chafe at the Doctors marrying my daughter.
1682. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 224. Lieutenant Colonel Quiney … offered an abuse to Sir John Lawrence by pulling him down off the hustings.
6. Violation, defilement (now only in self-abuse).
1580. Sidney, Arc., II. (T.). Was it not enough for him to have deceived me, and through the deceit abused me, and after the abuse forsaken me?
1751. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Abuse, Self-Abuse is a phrase used by some late writers for the crime of self-pollution.
7. Injurious speech, reviling, execration; abusive language.
1559. Myrroure for Mag., i. 4. Blowen up the blast of all abuse.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., V. i. 347. Harke how the villaine would close now, after his treasonable abuses.
1759. Dilworth, Life of Pope, 77. Mr. Pope bore for a long time the gross abuses thrown out by his adversaries.
1780. Harris, Philol. Enq. (1841), 534. For every past age, when present, has been the object of abuse.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng. (1861), V. xxiv. 128. The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows.
