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Origin and history of usage

usage(n.)

c. 1300, "established practice, custom; a tradition that has the force of law," from Anglo-French and Old French usage "custom, habit, experience; taxes levied," from us, from Latin usus "use, custom" (see use (v.)).

It is attested from late 14c. as "service, use, act of using something;" also "conventional language or speech, customary or established mode of using words and phrases." It is attested from late 15c. as "treatment, conduct toward persons, manner of using or being used."

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to usage

use(v.)

c. 1200, usen, "employ for a purpose," from Old French user "employ, make use of, practice, frequent," from Vulgar Latin *usare "use," from stem of Latin uti "make use of, profit by, take advantage of, enjoy, apply, consume" (in Old Latin oeti "use, employ, exercise, perform"), a word of uncertain origin. Related: Used; using. It took senses of Old English brucan (see brook (v.)).

For intransitive senses (used to), see used. From c. 1300 as "speak or write a language;" by mid-14c. as "consume" (food, medicine). From late 14c. as "take advantage of" a situation, "seize" an opportunity; "enjoy, have a right to." To use up "consume entirely" is by 1785.

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    custom
    c. 1200, custume, "habitual practice," either of an individual or a nation or community, from Old French costume "custom, habit, practice; clothes, dress" (12c., Modern French coutume), from Vulgar Latin *consuetumen, from Latin consuetudinem (nominative consuetudo) "habit, usage
    exercise
    mid-14c., "condition of being in active operation; practice for the sake of training," from Old French exercice (13c.) "exercise, execution of power; physical or spiritual exercise," from Latin exercitium "training, physical exercise" (of soldiers, horsemen, etc.); "play;" in Med
    numismatic
    from Latin numismat-, stem of numisma "coin, currency, stamp on a coin," from Greek nomisma "current coin, piece of money; usage...," literally "what has been sanctioned by custom or usage," from nomizein "have in use, adopt a custom," from nomos "custom..., law, usage," from PIE root *nem- "assign, allot; take."...
    customary
    1520s, "liable to customs or dues;" c. 1600, "according to established usage, habitual," from Medieval Latin custumarius,...Earlier words for "according to established usage" were custumal (c. 1400, from Old French), custumable (c. 1300)....
    Eurydice
    mythology, from Latinized form of Greek Eurydike, literally "wide justice," from eurys "wide" (see eury-) + dike "custom, usage...; justice, right; court case," "custom, usage," and, via the notion of "right as dependent on custom," "law, a right; a judgment...
    consuetude
    late 14c., "custom, usage," from Old French consuetude and directly from Latin consuetudo "a being accustomed, habit, usage...
    costume
    1715, "style of dress," but also more broadly "custom or usage with respect to place and time, as represented in art or literature...costume (17c.), from Italian costume "fashion, habit," from Latin consuetudinem (nominative consuetudo) "custom, habit, usage...
    tire
    "to weary," also "to become weary," Old English teorian (Kentish tiorian) "to fail, cease; become weary; make weary, exhaust," of uncertain origin; according to Watkins possibly from Proto-Germanic *teuzon, from a suffixed form of PIE root *deu- (1) "to lack, be wanting." Related
    rite
    early 14c., "formal act or procedure of religious observance performed according to an established manner," from Latin ritus "custom, usage," especially "a religious observance or ceremony" (source also of Spanish, Italian rito), which perhaps is from PIE root *re- "to reason, co
    habit
    early 13c., "characteristic attire of a religious or clerical order," from Old French habit, abit "clothing, (ecclesiastical) habit; conduct" (12c.), from Latin habitus "condition, demeanor, appearance, dress," originally past participle of habere "to have, hold, possess; wear; f

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