Etymology Dictionary

URE,  practice, use.  (F.,—L.)   Obsolete, except in the derivative in-ure; and cf. man-ure.   The real sense is work, practice; and, as it often has the sense of use, Richardson and others confuse it with use or usage; but it has no connection with those words.   It was once a common word; see examples in Nares.   'To put in vre, in usum trahere;' Levins, 193. 17.   'I vre one, I accustume hym to a thyng;' Palsgrave.   M.E. vre; 'Moche like thyng I haue had in vre;' Remedie of Loue, st. 23, pr. in Chaucer's Works, ed. 1561, fol. 323.   [Distinct from M.E. vre = good luck.]—O.F. eure, uevre, ovre, work, action, operation.—Lat. opera, work.   See further under Inure, Manure, and Operate.   Doublet, opera.