▪ I. abuse, v.
(əˈbjuːz)
[a. Fr. abuse-r (cf. Pr. and Sp. abusar, It. abusare), pointing to a popular L. *abūsā-re, f. abūs-us, pa. pple. of abūt-i, 1. to use up, 2. to misuse, 3. (late L.) to disuse, f. ab away + ūti, ūsus to use.]
† 1. Sc. To disuse, give up. Obs.
| 1471 Parl. Jas. III (1814) 100 (Jam.) At [= That] the futbal and golf be abusit in tym cummyng, & the buttis maid up, & schuting usit. |
2. a. To use improperly, to misuse; to make a bad use of, to pervert, or misemploy; to take a bad advantage of. spec. To take (a drug) for a purpose other than a therapeutic one.
| 1413 Lydgate Pylg. Sowle (1859) i. xv. 12 Wel thou wost who that me hath abused, myn enemy, that hath me now accused. 1483 Caxton Cato g viij, Thou oughtest to dyspende thy goodes by mesure..to thende that men sayen not that thou abusest them. 1581 Lyly Euphues (1636) E. x, How wantonly, yea and how willingly haue we abused our golden time. 1611 Bible 1 Cor. ix. 18 That I abuse not my power in the Gospel. 1663 Gerbier Counsel C vj. a, With more I shall not presume to abuse your Lordships patience. 1771 Junius Lett. lxi. 317 The liberty of the press may be abused. 1829 Scott Rob Roy i. 64 I dare not promise that I may not abuse the opportunity so temptingly offered me. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. II. x. 503 Restoring his brother to the authority which he had so abused. 1968 Jrnl. Health, Physical Educ. & Recreation XXXIX. 27/1 Any substance capable of altering man's mood has abuse capability... The specific substance abused is of less direct importance to the user than the end result. 1972 E. H. Ellinwood in Ellinwood & Cohen Current Concepts on Amphetamine Abuse xiv. 146/1 The greatest increase in libido was often noted in women, especially those who had been relatively frigid prior to abusing amphetamines. 1984 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 Sept. 612/2 He abused a wide variety of drugs. |
† b. To use in error, to mistake. Obs.
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 29 Cholchicum is abused of some Poticaries for Hermodactylus. 1551 ― Herbal (1568) i. 41 Some have abused long smallage for persely, wherein they have been deceived. |
† 3. To misrepresent, colour falsely; to adulterate. refl. To show oneself in false colours, to make false pretensions. Obs.
| c 1430 Lydgate Bochas (1554) ix. iii. 197 b, With litle grayn, your chaffe ye can abuse. 1509 Hawes Past. of Pleas. xviii. 84 O goodd madame! though that they abused Them to theyr ladyes in theyr great deceyte, Yet am I true. 1697 View of Penal Laws 243 None selling Wines in Gross shall abuse or mix any of them with other Ingredients. 1702 Eng. Theophr. Pref. 4 How miserably that noble author has been abused by his Translators. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones (1840) xvii. ii. 243/2 He hath been abused, grossly abused to you. |
† 4. a. To make a wrong use of any one's confidence; to impose upon, cheat, or deceive (a person). Obs. but preserved in the negative disabuse.
| 1481 Caxton Myrrour ii. ix. 87 Wherof..the maronners saylling by this see ben gretely deceyued and abused. 1553 Lyndesay Mon. i. 1004 Rychtso the woman hir excusit, And said: ‘the serpent me abusit.’ 1649 Jer. Taylor Great Exemp. iii. xvii. 65 He was abused into the act by a Prophet. 1702 Eng. Theophr. 248 A Prince that desires by means of his Ambassador to deceive any other Prince, must first abuse his own Ambassador, to the end he should speak with the more earnestness. 1776 Wesley Wks. 1830 IV. 39 Many saw how miserably they had been abused by those vulgarly called Gospel Preachers. |
† b. refl. and pass. To be deceived, mistaken. to be abused upon or in: to form a mistaken idea of, to fall into error about. Obs.
| 1477 Caxton Jason 41 b, If ye juge the disposition of my body after the colour of my face ye be gretly abused. 1525 Ld. Berners Froissart II. ccxxiv. [ccxx.] 703 The Christen men were abused vpon ii. popes..some beleuyng on the one pope, and some vpon the other. Ibid. ccxxv. [ccxxi.] 704 [He] had great dout that he was sore abused in those two popes. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. 41 You are much abused if you think your vertue can withstand the Kings power. 1660 Howell, Thou dost abuse thyself grossly: Tu t' abuses tout a fait. a 1718 Penn Tracts Wks. 1726 I. 766 That so we may not profane the name of God..nor abuse our selues unto Eternal Perdition. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) VII. xvii. 305 To see themselves abused in the hopes they had entertained. |
5. To ill-use or maltreat; to injure, wrong, or hurt.
| 1556 W. Lauder Tractate 331 And, geue thay haue the floke abusit, Ȝe, Kyngs, sall be for that accusit. 1611 Bible 2 Mac. xiv. 42 Chusing rather to die manfully, then to come into the hands of the wicked to be abused otherwise then beseemed his noble birth. 1662 Fuller Worthies 117 He that abuseth his servants, giving them too little food or sleep. 1691 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) II. 315 The duke of Norfolke was abused in the fray at the playhouse. 1756 Burke Vind. Nat. Soc. Wks. I. 39 In this kind of government human nature is not only abused and insulted, but it is actually degraded. Mod. It is the characteristic of the English drunkard to abuse his wife and family. |
6. To violate, ravish, defile. ? Obs.
| 1553 Lyndesay Monarche i. 1236 Quhow men and wemen schamefullye Abusit thame selfis vnnaturallye. 1611 Bible Judg. xix. 25 And abused her all the night vntil the morning. 1767 Fordyce Serm. to Yng. Women I. i. 9 He that abuses you dishonours his mother. |
7. To wrong with words; to speak injuriously of or to; to malign, revile. a. trans.
| 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. i. 123 I am no Strumpet, but of life as honest, As you that thus abuse me. 1705 Otway Orphan ii. iv. 564 What have I done? and why do you abuse me? 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. II. 52 A preface in which the Pope was abused in the most virulent terms. |
b. intr.
| 1468 Coventry Myst. (1841) 73 Whow durste thou amonge fruteful presume and abuse? |
▪ II. abuse, n.
(əˈbjuːs)
[a. Fr. abus:—L. abūsus, 1. wearing out, 2. misuse; n. of completed action from abūt-i. See abuse v.]
† 1. The process of using up or wearing out. Obs.
| 1539 Cranmer Col. ii. 22 Touch not, tast not, handell not: whych all peryeshe thorow the very abuse [Wyclif vse. Tindale & 1611 vsinge]. |
2. a. Wrong or improper use, misuse, misapplication, perversion. spec. The non-therapeutic or excessive use of a drug; the misuse of any substance, esp. for its stimulant effects. Cf. drug-abuse s.v. drug n.1 1 b; solvent abuse s.v. solvent n. 5.
| 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 709 These two wyll hym so vse Ichone in their abuse. 1602 Warner Albion's England (1612) ix. lii. 236 Yet things, that of themselues be good, abuse brings out of square. 1756 C. Lucas On Waters I. 29 I have observed the same from the abuse of Spa water. 1846 Mill Logic (1868) i. ii. §4. 29 Imitating him in this abuse of language. 1862 Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. i. 18 It would be a great abuse of terms to call the Venetian a Mixed Aristocracy. 1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight vi. 78 It [tendency to short sight] may sometimes originate in later life from abuse of the eyes. 1961 Drug Addiction (Rep. Interdepartmental Comm., Min. Health & Dept. of Health, Scotl.) 15 The abuse of stimulant drugs such as the amphetamines and phenmetrazine has led to some publicity and concern. 1969 R. R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z p. vii, The fact that in recent years drug use, or more correctly abuse, has radically changed is..the raison d'être of this book. 1970 (title) Alcohol abuse. (Office of Health.) 1974 M. C. Gerald Pharmacol. vi. 124 Whereas..amphetamine-like drugs may be useful in the early stages of dieting, the development of tolerance and their abuse potential limit their long-term value as appetite-suppressants. 1984 Sunday Times 9 Dec. 3/6 This is a setback for the campaign against increasing heroin abuse among the young in all parts of the country. |
b. Rhet. Improper use of words, catachresis.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie (1869) 190, Catachresis, or the Figure of abuse..if for lacke of naturall and proper terme or worde we take another, neither naturall nor proper and do vntruly applie it to the thing which we would seeme to expresse. a 1716 South 12 Serm. (1744) II. 93 The acception of the word amongst the Greeks and Latines..is through abuse and degeneration. |
3. A bad or improper usage (i.e. a use which has become chronic), a corrupt practice.
| 1486 Caxton Curial 3 The abuses of the courte..ben suche that a man is neuer suffred tenhaunce hymself. 1550 Crowley Last Trumpet 615 Thou learned man, do not disdayne..Thy greate abuses to refrayne, And in thy callyng to go ryght. 1699 Dr. Tanner in Pepys' Diary VI. 186 Some letters about the abuses of Christ's Hospital. a 1745 Swift Adv. of Relig. Wks. 1824 VIII. 107 The nature of things is such, that, if abuses be not remedied, they will certainly increase. 1780 Burke Sp. on Econ. Ref. Wks. III. 247 There is a time, when the hoary head of inveterate abuse will neither draw reverence, nor obtain protection. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 121 It seemed perfectly natural that he should defend abuses by which he profited. |
† 4. Imposture, deceit; delusion. Obs.
| 1555 Fardle of Facions, Pref. 15 Some he [the deuell] reuersed into their former abuses and errours. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. vii. 51 Or is it some abuse? Or no such thing? 1605 ― Macb. iii. iv. 142 My strange and self-abuse Is the initiate feare, that wants hard vse. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xlv, Do the false prophets teach you such abuses? |
† 5. Injury, wrong, ill-usage. Obs.
| 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 188 Did I let passe th' abuse done to my Neece? 1598 ― Merry W. v. iii. 8 My husband will not reioyce so much at the abuse of Falstaffe, as he will chafe at the Doctors marrying my daughter. 1682 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 224 Lieutenant Colonel Quiney..offered an abuse to Sir John Lawrence by pulling him down off the hustings. |
6. Violation, defilement (now only in self-abuse).
| 1580 Sidney Arc. ii. (T.), Was it not enough for him to have deceived me, and through the deceit abused me, and after the abuse forsaken me? 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Abuse, Self-Abuse is a phrase used by some late writers for the crime of self-pollution. |
7. Injurious speech, reviling, execration; abusive language.
| 1559 Myrroure for Mag. i. 4 Blowen up the blast of all abuse. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. v. i. 347 Harke how the villaine would close now, after his treasonable abuses. 1759 Dilworth Life of Pope 77 Mr. Pope bore for a long time the gross abuses thrown out by his adversaries. 1780 Harris Philol. Enq. (1841) 534 For every past age, when present, has been the object of abuse. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. (1861) V. xxiv. 128 The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows. |
[6.] For def. read: Violation, defilement. In mod. use esp. sexual or other maltreatment, and freq. with qualifying word, as child abuse, self-abuse n., sexual abuse, etc.
| 1893 Medico-Legal Jrnl. (N.Y.) X. 377 Cruelty signifies abuse, and the law is to be construed in its application, to prevent the abuse of children. 1985 J. J. Costa (title) Abuse of the elderly: a guide to resources and services. |