Obs. Also 4–5 vsere, 5 vsur, usur. [a. OF. useure (13th c.), usure (also AF. and F.), ad. L. ūsūra (whence It., Sp., Pg. usura, Pr. uzura), n. of action f. ūs-us: see USURY sb.]
1. The fact or practice of lending money at interest. Cf. USURY sb. 1.
a. 1325. Prose Psalter, liv. 11. Usure [L. usura] and trecherie ne failed nouȝt in his waies. [1382, 1388 Wyclif Ibid.]
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 277. Þat þe sotil vsure of riche clerkis & marchaundes be hurled out of lond.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1919), iii. 12. Men of Grece … sey also þat vsure is no dedly synne.
1436. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 176. Thus they lyve … wyth suche chevesaunce That men calle usure, to oure losse and hinderaunce.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 70. Thair digniteis, that thai have gottyn wrangwisly throu usur, scisme, or symony.
c. 1530. Pol., Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 60. What is vsure, but … a lawfulle thefe that tellyth ys entent.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, II. xi. (S.T.S.), I. 167. Þis dett … was ay duplyit on him be vsure and okkir.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, I. i. I turne no moneys, in the public bank; Nor vsure priuate.
Personif. 1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. II. 66. Hit witen … þat I, Fauuel, felle Fals to þat mayden Meede,… With þe Yle of vsure And Auarice þe False.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 274. Upon the bench sittende on hih With Avarice Usure I sih.
b. A usurious act or practice.
a. 1325. Prose Psalter, lxxi. 14. He shal raunsoun her soules fram vsures and wickednes.
1382. Wyclif, Ibid.
c. 1440. Alph. Tales, 472. With myne vsuris I grevud God bothe day & nyght.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 188. Usuris and barat, subtilitee and trechery.
2. = INTEREST sb. 10, USURY sb. 2. Also occas. at, to usure.
Freq. in Wyclif (1382), occas. in plural, tr. L usuræ.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 224. Þe chartres & þe scris þat noied Cristen men, Þat lay for vsure in pris elleuen als for ten.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 185. That is that for vsure Leneth to many a creature.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. VII. 83. For beggeres borwen euermo and her borghe is god almyȝti, To ȝelden hem þat ȝiueth hem and ȝet vsure more.
1382. Wyclif, Lev. xxv. 37. Thi money thow shalt not ȝyue to him to vsure.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 7026. If a wight, out of mesure, Wolde lene his gold, and take vsure.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 431 b/1. That no Justycer shold … constrayne them that were bounden to the Jewes … to paye or yelde to them theyr Vsure or growyng.
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. 353. As a Iewe wolde haue forced a Cristen man to haue gyuen to hym more than .ii.d. for the vsure of .xx.s. for a weke.
