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USE (1),
sb., employment, custom. (F.,—L.)
M.E. vse, use; properly us, as in Ancren Riwle, p. 16, l. 7; the
word being monosyllabic.—O.F.
(and F.) us, use, usage (Burguy); spelt uz in Cotgrave.—Lat.
usum, acc. of usus, use.—Lat.
usus, pp. of uti, to use. Cf. Skt. úta, pp. of
av, to please, orig. to be pleased or satisfied. Prob. from
✔AW,
to be satisfied with; see Audience. Der.
use, vb., M.E. vsen, usen,
Layamon, 24293, from F. user, to use, from Low Lat. usare, to use, put for
usari*,
frequentative form of uti, to use. Also us-able, from the verb
to use; us-age, M.E. vsage, usage, King Alisaunder, l. 1286, from F.
usage,
'usage,' Cot. Also use-ful, use-ful-ly, use-ful-ness; use-less,
use-less-ly, use-less-ness; all from the sb. use. Also us-u-al,
Hamlet, ii. I. 22, from Lat. usualis (White), from usu-, crude form of
usus; us-u-al-ly. And see usurp, usury, utensil, utility. Also
ab-use, dis-use, mis-use, ill-use, per-use.
ADDENDA USE
(2), profit, benefit. (F.,—L.)
When use is employed, in legal documents, in the special sense of
'benefit,' it is a modernised spelling of the Anglo-F. form of the Lat. opus,
employment, need. Cf. Anglo-F. oes, use, profit, Annals of
Burton, pp. 474, 482, A.D. 1258; oeps,
Liber Custumarum, p. 202; Statutes of the Realm, i. 144, A.D.
1299; uoes, service, Vie de St. Auban, 1554. A good example
is the following: 'Que il feist a sun oes guarder,' which he caused
to be kept for his own use; Roman de Rou, 2336. ¶
We find also Anglo-F. us, usage, use (from Lat. acc. usum),
Year-Books of Edw. I. i. 409. See oes, ues, eus, obs, in
Bartsch.
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