use

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English usen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French user (“to employ, make use of, practise”),^[2][3][4][5] from Vulgar Latin *ūsō, a frequentative formed on the past-participle stem of Latin ūtor (“to use, make use of, enjoy”).^[2][3][6][7] The OED takes it partly also directly from post-classical Latin usō, recorded from the 7th century.^[8] The Latin verb is of uncertain origin;^[2][8][3] Klein and Merriam-Webster compare Oscan úittiuf (“use”).^[7][9] The noun is inherited from Middle English us,^[3][7] borrowed from Anglo-Norman us and Old French us (“custom, practice, usage”),^[2][3][8] and partly directly borrowed from Latin ūsus (“use, custom, practice, employment, skill”), a verbal noun from the same participle stem.^[8][3][6] The Anglo-Norman noun and verb are both recorded from the early 12th century, the verb already meaning to employ, to follow a custom and to practise a trade.^[10][8] Etymonline notes that the English verb took over senses of Old English brūcan, compare the verb brook.^[2] Latin ūsus is also behind usage, usual, usurp and usury, and ūtor behind utensil and utility.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To employ for a purpose: before 1200, in Laȝamon's Brut, according to Barnhart, and about 1200 in Etymonline.^[3][2] The OED dates its Laȝamon quotation, on practising a craft, to about 1300, and its earliest verb sense, to observe a religious rite, to before 1250.^[8] The noun, the act of using something, is first recorded about 1225 in the Ancrene Riwle.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Many early senses of the verb concern observing and practising: keeping a rite or a custom, practising a craft, leading a kind of life, and engaging in a sport, the last two now obsolete.^[8] From about 1300 it also meant to speak or write a language, by the mid-14th century to consume food or medicine, and since the late 14th century to take advantage of a situation or to enjoy a right.^[2] Hoad dates "to habituate, accustom" (be used to) to the 15th century; the intransitive "be accustomed" now survives only in the past tense, used to.^[5] By the late 14th century the noun covered purpose, function, benefit and established custom, and of no use, worthless, dates from the same period.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the noun first as the act of employing anything to any purpose.^[11] Use up, to consume entirely, is recorded by 1785,^[2] and the colloquial could use, to need or want, from 1910 in the United States.^[12] Weekley thought that the legal sense of the noun, the benefit or enjoyment of property, was influenced by Old French ues (“profit, advantage”), from Latin opus,^[13] and the OED likewise sees in it the Anglo-Norman variants of oeps.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – verb, to employ for a purpose, in Laȝamon's Brut.^[3][2]
• c. 1225 – noun, the act of using something, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[8][3]
• before 1250 – to observe a religious rite.^[8]
• c. 1300 – to observe a custom; to speak or write a language.^[8][2]
• 1340 – noun, the manner of using something.^[8]
• before 1382 – noun, the consuming of food, drink or a drug.^[8]
• late 14th century – noun, purpose, function or benefit, and the phrase of no use.^[2]
• before 1387 – noun, the ability or custom of using something, as in to have the use of.^[8]
• 1785 – use up, to consume entirely.^[2]
• 1910 – could use, to need or want.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put something into service for a purpose; to employ: She used a knife to open the parcel.^[14][9]
2. To make a habit of employing or exercising something: Use your head.^[14]
3. To consume or exhaust a supply: The heater uses a lot of gas.^[14][2]
4. To treat someone in a particular way: They used him badly.^[14]
5. To exploit someone for one's own ends.^[14]
6. (chiefly US) To take alcohol or drugs, especially habitually.^[14]
7. could use (informal): to need or want: I could use a coffee.^[12]
8. used to (past tense only): expressing a former habit or state: We used to live by the sea.^[5][2]
9. (archaic) To observe or follow as a custom.^[9][8]

Noun

1. The act of using something, or the state of being used: The old mill is no longer in use.^[14][9][8]
2. The ability or right to use something: He lost the use of his left arm.^[8]
3. A purpose or function; usefulness: It's no use complaining.^[2][14]
4. (law) The benefit or profit of property held by another for one's advantage.^[13][8]

Word family

• multiuse
• nonuse
• disuse
• misuse
• overuse
• reuse
• underuse
• useful

Related words

• usage
• usual
• usury
• usurp
• utensil
• utility
• utilize
• abuse
• peruse

Usage notes

Weekley explained the pronunciation of used to with /s/ by the t- of to.^[13] In Scots and English dialects to be in use to meant to be accustomed to.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ 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)