Definition of "use" in English

noun

1. The act of using.

   • The use of torture has been condemned by the United Nations.

2. (uncountable) The act of consuming alcohol or narcotics.

3. (uncountable, followed by "of") Usefulness, benefit.

   • What's the use of a law that nobody follows?

4. A function; a purpose for which something may be employed.

   • This tool has many uses.

5. Occasion or need to employ; necessity.

   • I have no further use for these textbooks.

6. (obsolete, rare) Interest for lent money; premium paid for the use of something; usury.

7. (archaic) Continued or repeated practice; usage; habit.

8. (obsolete) Common occurrence; ordinary experience.

9. (Christianity) A special form of a rite adopted for use in a particular context, often a diocese.

   • the Sarum, or Canterbury, use; the York use; the Ordinariate use

10. (forging) A slab of iron welded to the side of a forging, such as a shaft, near the end, and afterward drawn down, by hammering, so as to lengthen the forging.

verb

1. To utilize or employ.

2. To accustom; to habituate. (Now common only in participial form. Uses the same pronunciation as the noun; see usage notes.)

   • soldiers who are used to hardships and danger
   • to use the soldiers to hardships and danger

3. (intransitive, archaic or literary except in past tense) To habitually do; to be wont to do. (Now chiefly in past-tense forms; see used to.)

   • I used to get things done.

4. (dated) To behave toward; to act with regard to; to treat.

   • to use an animal cruelly

5. (reflexive, obsolete) To behave, act, comport oneself.

   • 1551, Thomas More, Utopia, London: B. Alsop & T. Fawcet, 1639, “Of Bond-men, Sicke persons, Wedlocke, and divers other matters,” page 231, They live together lovingly: For no Magistrate is either haughty or fearefull. Fathers they be called, and like fathers they use themselves.
   • c. 1558, George Cavendish, The Life and Death of Thomas Wolsey, cardinal, edited by Grace H. M. Simpson, London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1901, page 57, I pray to God that this may be a sufficient admonition unto thee to use thyself more wisely hereafter, for assure thyself that if thou dost not amend thy prodigality, thou wilt be the last Earl of our house.