usure
usure verb: to commit usury.
Verb (1)
usure (third-person singular simple present usures, present participle usuring, simple past and past participle usured)
- To commit usury.
- I turn no moneys in the public bank; Nor usure private.1605, Ben Johson, Volpone, or The Fox
- Neither do we approve the policy of the other sections of the bill referred to us, which proposes to declare utterly void all interests by which any usurious or illegal rate of interest is usured or taken, and under which a party may, as has been elsewhere done, tempt a neighbor by an offer of a...1861 January 28, Thos. W. Lockwood, “A bill to regulate the interest on money loaned, and other contracts and liabilities”, in Journal of the Michigan Legislature House of Representatives, page 246
Verb (2)
usure (third-person singular simple present usures, present participle usuring, simple past and past participle usured)
- To cause to degenerate through usage.
- The maternal tongue is irrevocably supplanted by a usured tongue, the language of the truck driver and of the maid in Andalusia.2006, Stefania Lucamante, Sharon Wood, Under Arturo's Star: The Cultural Legacies of Elsa Morante, page 174
- Now, however, preaching cannot help anymore. They have usured themselves deaf, blind, and senseless, and they hear, see, and feel nothing more.2007, Philip D. Krey, Peter D. S. Krey, Luther's Spirituality, page 42
Noun
usure (countable and uncountable, plural usures)
- The process by which a metaphor inexorably loses its freshness, power, and imagery through overuse.
- This movement involves a detour through metaphor: with the expropriation of the primitive meaning given to things, we fall into a metaphoric mode of understanding; in the course of human history and through the process of usure or wearing away of the figurative, and 'proper' meaning is restored...1993, Irene Rima Makaryk, Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory
- In effect there is no access to the usure of a linguistic phenomenon without giving it some figurative representation.2012, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Poetics of the Elements in the Human Condition, page 390
- An instance of degredation due to use; A sign of wear and tear.
- If the cartilage is thick, there are fewer usures and less destruction of the bone.1961, Acta Rheumatologica Scandinavica - Volume 7, page 151
- Usures develop there which frequently have sclerotic outlines. Usures are also found on the upper surface of the talus, sometimes there are corresponding changes on the articular surface of the tibia.1984, Stanislav Popelka, Surgery of Rheumatoid Arthritis, page 176
Examples of usure in a sentence
- Similarly, he must make restitution to those from whom he has stolen or robbed before those he has usured.2016, Lawrin Armstrong, The Idea of a Moral Economy, page 20:
- Within its sheer walls were the mad, the indebted, those usured into servitude.2017, Michael John Grist, The Saint's Rise:
- The intercostal arteries expand and lead to rib usures.2018, Friedrich Paulsen, Tobias M. Böckers, Jens Waschke, Sobotta Anatomy Textbook, page 85:
Forms of usure
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | usures |
| present participle | usuring |
| past participle | usured |
| past | usured |
| Noun | |
| plural | usures |
Origin of usure
Borrowed from French usure (“usury”, noun). The change to a verb in English may be influenced by back-formation from usury. Piecewise doublet of etymology 2.
Borrowed from French usure (“wear from usage”). Piecewise doublet of etymology 1.
Words formed from usure
Questions about usure
- What does usure mean?
- Usure means to commit usury.
- How do you use usure in a sentence?
- Similarly, he must make restitution to those from whom he has stolen or robbed before those he has usured.
- What part of speech is usure?
- Usure can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of usure?
- The past tense of usure is usured.
Words near usure in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: usure (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “usure.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/usure. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.