Forms: 3–7 vsage, 4– usage (5 osage, 6 uzag, yousage, usaige); 6 vsadge, 6–7 usadge (7 usadg, usidge, 9 dial. yousetch). [a. AF., OF. usage (OF. also usaige), = Pr. uzatge, Sp. usage, It. usaggio, med.L. ūsāticum, f. L. ūs-us USE sb.]
1. Habitual use, established custom or practice, customary mode of action, on the part of a number of persons; long-continued use or procedure; custom, habit. (= USE sb. 7, 9.) In group (b.), coupled with cognate terms, esp. custom.
13[?]. K. Alis., 1286 (Laud MS.). Comeþ messagers … And asken of Philipp trovage, Of wood, & water, & londe, by vsage.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, III. i. (Skeat), l. 111. Custome is of commen usage by length of tyme used; and custome nat writte is usage.
c. 1440. Partonope, 332. He brente hys bonus in grette haste, That was the vsage of that contre.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 73. The usage was that thai suld enter in barras.
c. 1530. Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 422. Accordinge to the vsage yt was than in yt country.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 65. Yet they are content in speaking to followe the common usage.
1680. Prideaux, Lett. (Camden), 78. The liberty of printeing by long usage, and … granted by charter till the time of K. Charles ye 1st, whose grant recites the sayd usage.
1697. W. Walsh, Life Vergil, in Dryden’s V. (1721), I. 44. Every one should serve the Gods after the Usage of his own Country.
1709. Prior, Henry & Emma, 67. Usage confirm’d what Fancy had begun.
1768. Blackstone, Comm., III. 108. Laws … corrected, altered, and amended by acts of parliament and common usage.
1785. Paley, Mor. Philos., VI. xii. 642. The greater part [of the rules] have grown insensibly into usage.
1809. Coleridge, Friend, 225. Reasoners, who argue for a change in our government from former usage and from Statutes still in force.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., v. I. 573. The custom house officers … had gone on board according to usage.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. xl. 83. The charter contained a sort of skeleton constitution, which usage had clothed with nerves.
(b) c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xiii. 58. Thurgh comoun custom and vsage þat þai er wont vnto.
c. 1444. Pecock, Donet, 176. Þe peple schulen be brouȝt into vsage and custom … forto attende into þe doctryne.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 189. Ther awne lawes and constitucions … the spiritualitie sore defended … by prescription and vsage.
1558. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 417. The costome and usadge of the contry beinge evidently knouin.
1728. Chambers, Cycl. (1738), s.v. Usance, The usage and custom of the places whereon they [sc. bills of exchange] are drawn.
1759. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, III. 378. They alleged, usage and custom against reason and justice ought to have but little weight.
† b. In predicative use without article. Obs.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 727. In þis lond was þo vsage, Who so [etc.].
13[?]. Sir Beues (A.), 3470. Ase hit was lawe & riȝt vsage.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 386. To bidde … unto thymage Of Venus, as was thanne usage.
† c. By usage, customarily; usually. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Former Age, 4. The fructes … Whiche þat the feldes yaue hem by vsage.
2. With a and pl.: An established or recognized mode of procedure, action, or conduct; a custom or practice; spec. one which has force in law.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3945. Vor hii hulde þe olde vsages, þat men wiþ men were Bi hom sulue & wymmen bi hom sulue.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 710. Now haf þay skyfted my skyl & scorned nature, & henttez hem in heþyng an vsage vn-clene.
a. 1400. in Eng. Gilds (1870), 349. Þese ben þe olde vsages of þe Cite of Wynchestre.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, I. 241. Wherefor ȝeet yn the lond of Surry ys an vsage þat when þe gospell schall be red, anon yche knyght … draweth out his sword.
1473. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 66/1. Dyvers Privileges, Liberties and free Usages.
a. 1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 330. There was and is an vsage in England in many places, that the noble men … hauing Fraunchises ought to haue seruices of the commons.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 29. Three other usages have we had in England, which have kept our people in spirit and valour.
1680. [see CUSTOM sb. 2].
1724. S. Knight, Life J. Colet, 60. Colet thought some Usages in the Church were intolerable.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist., I. Pref. p. xxxi. All I have here related was a receiv’d usage.
1766. Blackstone, Comm., II. 263. If there be a usage … that all the inhabitants of that parish may dance on a certain close, at all times,… (which is held to be a lawful usage) this is strictly a custom.
1811. Regul. & Orders Army, 25. Well versed in the Usages and Customs of the Service.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 708. Besides the general laws of merchants, there are certain commercial and seafaring usages which prevail in particular countries with the force of law. Underwriters are bound by usages.
1883. Villari, Machiavelli, IV. 117. Recommending … every usage of the Romans.
1884. A. R. Pennington, Wiclif, ix. 285. Every ecclesiastical usage should rest on Scriptural grounds.
b. The Usages, in Ch. Hist. (see quot. 1855).
1718. Spinckes, No Sufficient Reason, 2. The Pleas brought for the Essentiality of the Usages now contended for, must necessarily be acknowledged to be false.
1788. Skinner, Eccl. Hist., II. [623. Many of the ejected clergy … wished to revive these ancient usages … in the eucharistic service. Ibid.] 633. On the 9th. of July 1724, there was a general meeting of them all at Edinburgh, where, after much communing and reasoning about the Usages, the following stipulations were agreed to. Ibid., 634. On the commencement of the dispute about the Usages.
1855. Procter, Hist. Bk. Com. Pr., 145. The ceremonies revived in the new Communion Office were, The mixing of Water with the Wine, Prayer for the Dead, Prayer for the descent of the Holy Spirit on the elements, and the Prayer of Oblation. These were called The Usages, and those who practised them were called Usagers.
1887. Abbey, Eng. Ch. & Bps., I. 191. A little before Hickes’s death, in 1715, they were hotly at variance among themselves on the subject of the ‘usages.’
c. local. A right-of-way.
1829. T. Faulkner, Chelsea (ed. 2), I. 40. Charles Street,… Crooked Usage,… Chapel Row.
1884. N. & Q., 23 Feb., 148/1. Crooked Usage is a narrow lane … [in] Chelsea.
1902. Academy, 12 July, 56/1. The straight strips of ground between the various holdings of land were known as usages.
3. The body of rules or principles followed by a particular set of persons, or recognized in a particular craft, occupation, etc. Const. of.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 3790. For þe lovyng of God principaly And for usage of haly kyrk.
c. 1385. Chaucer, Prol., 110. Of woodecraft wel koude he al the vsage.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., IV. vii. More ought men to obey therunto, than to the vsage of armes.
1548–9. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Confirm., Pref. It is agreeable with the vsage of the churche.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. xv. 99 b. Sonnets, compounded after the vsage of their rime.
1787. J. A. Park, Law Marine Insur., 13. Provided the usage of the trade … sanctions it.
1827. Jarman, Powell’s Devises, II. 357. If she had been married to him according to the usage of the church of England.
1878. Maclear, Celts, x. 163. Adamnan was won over from the Celtic to the Catholic usage.
4. Manner of (ordinarily) bearing or comporting oneself; usual conduct or behavior.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28456. I … has hade it in myn vsage, O mete and drink to do vtrage.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 729. Among al this after his wikke vsage This Markys yet his wyf to tempte moore … haþ [etc.].
c. 1400. St. Alexius (Laud 622), 86. Men þat ȝeden in pilerinage … was his vsage Often forto fede.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 31. Þey hadde leuere fulfyllen here malyce,… þan for to leue þat malyce,… & here fals vsage, for to gon to heuene.
1548. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Rom. vii. 17 b. My synful vsage was not onely not restrayned, but also seemed quyckened.
1574. Whitgift, Def. Aunsw., i. 71. What opinion they had of their vsage in their offices.
1606. Arraignem. & Execution of Late Traitors, 3 (Hindley II). The little shew of their sorrow, their usage in prison, and their obstinacy to their end.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, viii. Mrs. Wickam, agreeably to the usage of some ladies in her condition, pursued her own branch of the subject without any compunction.
b. A practice or habit on the part of a person or persons.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 7669. Comunly, þat men done yn ȝenkþe, Yn age haunte þey hyt on lenkþe; And mowe nat leue þat foule vsage Þat þey toke yn ȝouþe.
14[?]. Chaucer’s Rom. Rose (Thynne), 293. Enuye … ne loked but awrie Or ouertharte al baggyngly And she had a foule vsage.
c. 1440. Ipomydon, 1498. To the tayle was turnyd his visage; They bad hym lerne a new vsage.
1523. Ld. Berners, trans. Froiss., I. xiv. 14. They put in wrytynge all the dedis of the kyng … and all his vsages, and euyll behauyngis.
1587. A. Day, Daphnis & Chloe (1890), 16. Of these [they] found diuers pastimes wherewith to occupie them selues togethers. Their vsages were holie.
1655. Jer. Taylor, Golden Grove, 88. O let us never … by unworthy usages profane thy holy Name.
† c. Of usage, as a habit or custom; regularly. Obs. rare.
c. 1381. Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 15. Or vsage what for lust & what for lore On bokis rede I ofte.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. cxvi. [cxii.] 333. And of usage his bedde was wont to be chafed with a bason with hote coles.
† 5. The fact of accustoming or being accustomed to do or employ something. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. i. (1868), 6. Þei holden þe hertes of men in usage, but þei ne delyuere not folk fro maladye.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 84. A knycht is usit in harnes…, the quhilk usage makis him hardy and expert.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., IV. xvi. 130 b. They haue also the commoditie & vsage to speake and vnderstand all other sortes of languages.
6. The action of using something; the fact of being used; use, employment.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., IV. pr. vi. (1868), 140. Þe vsage & exercitacioun of pacience. Ibid. (c. 1385), L. G. W., 2337, Philomene. He … kepte hire to his vsage & his store.
c. 1400. Cato’s Morals, 315, in Cursor M., App. iv. 1673. If þou haue carlis boȝt to serue þe in þi þoȝt, to þine vsage.
1490. Caxton, How to Die, 18. Thou haste the vsage of reason.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., I. (Percy Soc.), 5. I myght not slake Of my great musyng … of these two wayes so muche in usage.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark i. 6. The world had far swarued from the right vsage of the law of nature.
1574. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 242. Paper for patternes … & such other necessary uzag in thoffice.
1609. Manch. Crt. Leet Rec. (1886), II. 248. A doore which fformerlie did open and leade vnto the vsage of a barne.
1617. Woodall, Surg. Mate (1639), 8. Incision sheeres … are … scarce once in a mans life worth the usage.
1688. Holme, Armoury, III. 317/2. The Coopers Axe … is contrary to all other Workmens Axes both for shape and usage.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. I. 94. The constant usage of the form of baptism.
1844. Fraser’s Mag., XXX. 429/1. The usage of hops was entirely unknown to the ancient Gauls.
1870. F. R. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 127. The parish register … has suffered from time, damp, and usage.
1885. Tennyson, Anc. Sage, 270. Nor thou be rageful, like a handled bee, And lose thy life by usage of thy sting.
† b. The use of something as an article of food or drink. Obs.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, xxix. (1870), 292. Beware of the vsage of fruytes.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., IV. xxvii. 146. They forbade him the vsage of any kind of meat. Ibid., xxix. 150. [He] taught the Thebans to plant the vines and the vsage of wine.
7. Action, behavior, or conduct towards a person, etc.; manner of using or being used; treatment. Also const. of, † to (= of). a. With qualifying adjs.
In freq. use (esp. during 17th c.) from c. 1600.
1563–4. Clough, in Burgon, Life Gresham (1839), II. 48. Here is suche talke of the ill yousage of owre offysers.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 87. This loa … bringeth firme hoape for peaceable vsadge.
1583. Sir E. Radclyffe, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. III. 142. Her Majestie hath … comforted many of us with her most gratious usage.
1621. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), 233. For kinde usadge ore refreshinge for sick men.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 229. Another Saycot seeing this … came … and surrendred of her own accord, in hopes of better usage.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 95. Bad Usage makes him as dull and useless as an old Razor.
1784. P. Wright, New Bk. Martyrs, 794/2. The barbarous usage of those poor people.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxiii. On the whole, there was good usage on board.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 563. Without fear of their being injured by the roughest usage during transit.
transf. 1675. T. Howard, in Lady Newdegate, Cavalier & Puritan (1901), 74. The severe usage of the gout making me unfit to appear in any company.
b. Without adj.
1605. Shaks., Lear, II. iv. 26. Resolue me … which way Thou might’st deserue, or they impose this vsage, Comming from vs.
1614. Latham, Falconry, II. iv. 88. When you haue a Hawke…, you must be very carefull in her vsage.
1666. Earl Orrery, St. Lett. (1742), 297. Our usage in England amazes me. They will not only wound our estates, but our titles.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, Sept., 1646. He … was … displeas’d at the usage we received.
1717–8. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), VI. 153. She justifyeth her Usage to [= of] the Queen of Scots.
1766. Goldsm., Vicar, xxvi. To try how you may like the usage of another master.
1799. S. Freeman, Town Officer, 75. To inquire into the usage of children legally bound out.
1849. J. J. G. Wilkinson, Swedenborg, II. 191. He complained that he had met with usage the like of which had been offered to none since the establishment of Christianity in Sweden.
8. Established or customary use or employment of language, words, expressions, etc.
1697. De Foe, Ess. Projects, 236. The Voice of this Society should be sufficient Authority for the Usage of Words.
1785. Paley, Mor. Philos., III. 158. All senses of all words are founded upon usage, and nothing else.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), VI. 384. To make words stand for ideas, in opposition to the sense which usage had put upon them.
1845. Encycl. Metrop., I. 132/1. When we speak of nouns and verbs, we only conform to the established usage.
1875. Whitney, Life Lang., xii. 231. As to the common name by which they shall be called, usage is very diverse.
† 9. Interest on money lent; rate of interest; = USANCE 4 b. Obs.
1822. Scott, Nigel, v. The money, meanwhile, lying at the ordinary usage. Ibid. (1824), St. Ronan’s, xxxix. Some debts … have been paid up by Mr. Touchwood, who contented himself with more moderate usage.
