Us"age (?), n. [F. usage, LL.
usaticum. See Use.]
1. The act of using; mode of using or treating;
treatment; conduct with respect to a person or a thing; as, good
usage; ill usage; hard usage.
My brother
Is prisoner to the bishop here, at whose hands
He hath good usage and great liberty.
Shak.
2. Manners; conduct; behavior. [Obs.]
A gentle nymph was found,
Hight Astery, excelling all the crew
In courteous usage.
Spenser.
3. Long-continued practice; customary mode of
procedure; custom; habitual use; method. Chaucer.
It has now been, during many years, the grave and
decorous
usage of Parliaments to hear, in respectful silence, all
expressions, acceptable or unacceptable, which are uttered from the
throne.
Macaulay.
4. Customary use or employment, as of a word or
phrase in a particular sense or signification.
5. Experience. [Obs.]
In eld [old age] is both wisdom and
usage.
Chaucer.
Syn. -- Custom; use; habit. -- Usage, Custom.
These words, as here compared, agree in expressing the idea of habitual
practice; but a custom is not necessarily a usage. A
custom may belong to many, or to a single individual. A usage
properly belongs to the great body of a people. Hence, we speak of
usage, not of custom, as the law of language. Again, a
custom is merely that which has been often repeated, so as to
have become, in a good degree, established. A usage must be both
often repeated and of long standing. Hence, we speak of a "hew
custom," but not of a "new usage." Thus, also, the
"customs of society" is not so strong an expression as the
"usages of society." "Custom, a greater power than nature,
seldom fails to make them worship." Locke. "Of things once received
and confirmed by use, long usage is a law sufficient."
Hooker. In law, the words usage and custom are often
used interchangeably, but the word custom also has a technical and
restricted sense. See Custom, n., 3.
Us"age (?), n. [F. usage, LL.
usaticum. See Use.]
1. The act of using; mode of using or treating;
treatment; conduct with respect to a person or a thing; as, good
usage; ill usage; hard usage.
My brother
Is prisoner to the bishop here, at whose hands
He hath good usage and great liberty.
Shak.
2. Manners; conduct; behavior. [Obs.]
A gentle nymph was found,
Hight Astery, excelling all the crew
In courteous usage.
Spenser.
3. Long-continued practice; customary mode of
procedure; custom; habitual use; method. Chaucer.
It has now been, during many years, the grave and
decorous
usage of Parliaments to hear, in respectful silence, all
expressions, acceptable or unacceptable, which are uttered from the
throne.
Macaulay.
4. Customary use or employment, as of a word or
phrase in a particular sense or signification.
5. Experience. [Obs.]
In eld [old age] is both wisdom and
usage.
Chaucer.
Syn. -- Custom; use; habit. -- Usage, Custom.
These words, as here compared, agree in expressing the idea of habitual
practice; but a custom is not necessarily a usage. A
custom may belong to many, or to a single individual. A usage
properly belongs to the great body of a people. Hence, we speak of
usage, not of custom, as the law of language. Again, a
custom is merely that which has been often repeated, so as to
have become, in a good degree, established. A usage must be both
often repeated and of long standing. Hence, we speak of a "hew
custom," but not of a "new usage." Thus, also, the
"customs of society" is not so strong an expression as the
"usages of society." "Custom, a greater power than nature,
seldom fails to make them worship." Locke. "Of things once received
and confirmed by use, long usage is a law sufficient."
Hooker. In law, the words usage and custom are often
used interchangeably, but the word custom also has a technical and
restricted sense. See Custom, n., 3.
