n. [ OE. us use, usage, L. usus, from uti, p. p. usus, to use. See Use, v. t. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of employing anything, or of applying it to one's service; the state of being so employed or applied; application; employment; conversion to some purpose; as, the use of a pen in writing; his machines are in general use. [ 1913 Webster ]

Books can never teach the use of books. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

This Davy serves you for good uses. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

When he framed
All things to man's delightful use. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Occasion or need to employ; necessity; as, to have no further use for a book. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Yielding of service; advantage derived; capability of being used; usefulness; utility. [ 1913 Webster ]

God made two great lights, great for their use
To man. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

'T is use alone that sanctifies expense. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Continued or repeated practice; customary employment; usage; custom; manner; habit. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let later age that noble use envy. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Common occurrence; ordinary experience. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

O Caesar! these things are beyond all use. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Eccl.) The special form of ritual adopted for use in any diocese; as, the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the Hereford use; the York use; the Roman use; etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

From henceforth all the whole realm shall have but one use. Pref. to Book of Common Prayer. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. The premium paid for the possession and employment of borrowed money; interest; usury. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou art more obliged to pay duty and tribute, use and principal, to him. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. [ In this sense probably a corruption of OF. oes, fr. L. opus need, business, employment, work. Cf. Operate. ] (Law) The benefit or profit of lands and tenements. Use imports a trust and confidence reposed in a man for the holding of lands. He to whose use or benefit the trust is intended shall enjoy the profits. An estate is granted and limited to A for the use of B. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Forging) A stab of iron welded to the side of a forging, as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging. [ 1913 Webster ]

Contingent use, or
Springing use (Law), a use to come into operation on a future uncertain event. --
In use. (a) In employment; in customary practice observance. (b) In heat; -- said especially of mares. J. H. Walsh. --
Of no use, useless; of no advantage. --
Of use, useful; of advantage; profitable. --
Out of use, not in employment. --
Resulting use (Law), a use, which, being limited by the deed, expires or can not vest, and results or returns to him who raised it, after such expiration. --
Secondary use, or
Shifting use, a use which, though executed, may change from one to another by circumstances. Blackstone. --
Statute of uses (Eng. Law), the stat. 27 Henry VIII., cap. 10, which transfers uses into possession, or which unites the use and possession. --
To make use of,
To put to use, to employ; to derive service from; to use. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Used p. pr. & vb. n. Using. ] [ OE. usen, F. user to use, use up, wear out, LL. usare to use, from L. uti, p. p. usus, to use, OL. oeti, oesus; of uncertain origin. Cf. Utility. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To make use of; to convert to one's service; to avail one's self of; to employ; to put a purpose; as, to use a plow; to use a chair; to use time; to use flour for food; to use water for irrigation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some other means I have which may be used. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat; as, to use a beast cruelly. “I will use him well.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

How wouldst thou use me now? Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cato has used me ill. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To practice customarily; to make a practice of; as, to use diligence in business. [ 1913 Webster ]

Use hospitality one to another. 1 Pet. iv. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To accustom; to habituate; to render familiar by practice; to inure; -- employed chiefly in the passive participle; as, men used to cold and hunger; soldiers used to hardships and danger. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am so used in the fire to blow. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou with thy compeers,
Used to the yoke, draw'st his triumphant wheels. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

To use one's self, to behave. [ Obs. ] “Pray, forgive me, if I have used myself unmannerly.” Shak. --
To use up. (a) To consume or exhaust by using; to leave nothing of; as, to use up the supplies. (b) To exhaust; to tire out; to leave no capacity of force or use in; to overthrow; as, he was used up by fatigue. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Employ. -- Use, Employ. We use a thing, or make use of it, when we derive from it some enjoyment or service. We employ it when we turn that service into a particular channel. We use words to express our general meaning; we employ certain technical terms in reference to a given subject. To make use of, implies passivity in the thing; as, to make use of a pen; and hence there is often a material difference between the two words when applied to persons. To speak of “making use of another” generally implies a degrading idea, as if we had used him as a tool; while employ has no such sense. A confidential friend is employed to negotiate; an inferior agent is made use of on an intrigue. [ 1913 Webster ]

I would, my son, that thou wouldst use the power
Which thy discretion gives thee, to control
And manage all. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

To study nature will thy time employ:
Knowledge and innocence are perfect joy. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be wont or accustomed; to be in the habit or practice; as, he used to ride daily; -- now disused in the present tense, perhaps because of the similarity in sound, between “use to, ” and “used to.” [ 1913 Webster ]

They use to place him that shall be their captain on a stone. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fears use to be represented in an imaginary. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thus we use to say, it is the room that smokes, when indeed it is the fire in the room. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp. Ex. xxxiii. 7 (Rev. Ver.) [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be accustomed to go; to frequent; to inhabit; to dwell; -- sometimes followed by of. [ Obs. ] “Where never foot did use.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

He useth every day to a merchant's house. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye valleys low, where the mild whispers use
Of shades, and wanton winds, and gushing brooks. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of use, advantage, or profit; producing, or having power to produce, good; serviceable for any end or object; helpful toward advancing any purpose; beneficial; profitable; advantageous; as, vessels and instruments useful in a family; books useful for improvement; useful knowledge; useful arts. [ 1913 Webster ]

To what can I useful! Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a useful manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being useful; utility; serviceableness; advantage. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Utility; value; profit. See Utility. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having, or being of, no use; unserviceable; producing no good end; answering no valuable purpose; not advancing the end proposed; unprofitable; ineffectual; as, a useless garment; useless pity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not to sit idle with so great a gift
Useless, and thence ridiculous. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Fruitless; ineffectual. -- Useless, Fruitless, Ineffectual. We speak of an attempt, effort, etc., as being useless when there are in it inherent difficulties which forbid the hope of success, as fruitless when it fails, not from any such difficulties, but from some unexpected hindrance arising to frustrate it; as, the design was rendered fruitless by the death of its projector. Ineffectual nearly resembles fruitless, but implies a failure of a less hopeless character; as, after several ineffectual efforts, I at last succeeded. [ 1913 Webster ]

Useless are all words
Till you have writ “performance” with your swords.
The other is for waiving. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

Waiving all searches into antiquity, in relation to this controversy, as being either needless or fruitless. Waterland. [ 1913 Webster ]

Even our blessed Savior's preaching, who spake as never man spake, was ineffectual to many. Bp. Stillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Use"less*ly, adv. -- Use"less*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who uses. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) Enjoyment of property; use. Mozley & W. [ 1913 Webster ]