peruse

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English perusen,^[2][3][4] apparently formed from Middle English per- (“thoroughly, completely”) + usen (“to use”).^[5][4][6][7] The prefix goes back to Latin per- (“through, thoroughly”),^[3][2] and the verb use to ūtor (“to use”) through French.^[6] The revised OED thinks the two branches of meaning, "to use up" and "to go through, examine", may have been formed separately, and compares the first with Medieval Latin perusito (“to use up, wear out”), recorded in British sources from 1364, and the second with Anglo-Norman peruser (“to examine”), used in the 14th century of examining a person before a panel.^[5] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1346, meaning to go through or examine, and as a past participle "worn out".^[8] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford instead derive the word probably from an unrecorded Anglo-Latin verb Medieval Latin *perūsō, formed from the Latin prefix and the base of use.^[9][10] The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, defended the formation by comparing similar obsolete words formed with the same prefix.^[6] Weekley thought the sense "to go through, survey" pointed rather to an unrecorded verb from Latin pervideō (“to look over”).^[11] Skeat compared Old French par user sa vie (“to live out one's life”).^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To use up, to wear out by use: about 1475, in a collection of ordinances of the royal household.^[5] Barnhart dates perusen to 1479, with the senses "examine, go through, use up",^[13][4] and Dictionary.com dates the sense "use up, go through" to 1470–80.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The sense "to use up" died out in the 16th century,^[5][10] while the sense of going through things one by one led to "to examine in detail, scrutinize" and to revising or checking a text, both from about 1520.^[5][2] Reading proper, "to read through", is first recorded in 1532, in Elyot;^[5][4][6] Etymonline notes that this sense could be a separate formation.^[6] Shakespeare used the word for inspecting or examining, and peruse over for reading over.^[15] Johnson (1755) defined it first as "to read" and then as "to observe, to examine".^[16] The opposite sense, reading quickly or casually, appeared only in the 19th century,^[6][4] and the OED notes that "to examine" has in later use been influenced by it, so that the word can now mean to look over briefly, browse or skim.^[5] A sense "to travel through observantly", recorded from 1523, survived in regional use as "to travel, wander":^[5][10] in Herefordshire peruse meant to explore the fields or woods,^[17] and in the American South, especially in South Carolina and Georgia and frequently among Black speakers, to wander or saunter, often with about or around, from 1853 on.^[18] A noun peruse, reading or examination, is recorded from 1578, and in nautical slang from 1859 a look around while ashore.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1475 – to use up, to wear out (obsolete by 1570).^[5]
• 1479 – to go through or deal with a series of things one after another.^[5][4]
• c. 1520 – to examine in detail, scrutinize; to revise or check a text.^[5][2]
• 1523 – to go through a place observantly; intransitive, to travel, wander.^[5]
• 1532 – to read through, to read.^[5][4]
• 1578 – noun, reading, examination.^[5]
• 1800s – to read through quickly or casually.^[4][6]
• 1859 – noun, in nautical slang, a look around while ashore.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To read or examine something carefully and in detail; to study: The lawyer perused the contract before advising her client.^[19][2][20]
2. To look through something in a casual or cursory way; to browse or skim: He perused the menu while waiting for his friends.^[19][21][5]
3. To read.^[21][5]
4. (regional) To wander or saunter, often with about or around.^[18][5]
5. (obsolete, 1475–1570) To use up; to wear out through use.^[5][10]

Word family

• perusable
• perusal
• peruser
• reperuse
• unperused

Related words

• use
• scan

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that the word has long meant "to read thoroughly" and is often used loosely where read would do, and that the sense "to glance over, skim" was rejected by 66 percent of its Usage Panel.^[20] Wiktionary adds that some usage authorities proscribe the skimming sense, and compares scan, which can likewise mean both reading carefully and reading quickly.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ Skeat, Walter W.; Mayhew, A. L. (1914), A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words, Oxford: Clarendon Press
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
18. ^ a b Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
19. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
20. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
21. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster