usance
(ˈjuːzəns)
Also 4–7 vsance (6 Sc. vsans), 5–6 vsaunce (5 hew-, 6 ewsaunce).
[a. OF. usance (1271 in Godef.), = Pr. uzansa, Sp. and It. usanza, Pg. usan{cced}a, med.L. ūsancia, -zia, f. ūsant-, ūsans, pres. pple. of ūsāre to use.]
1. Habit, custom, wont; = usage n. 1.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2217 Wat doþ ȝour men of fraunce; Of hure disport & ek hure play, what is ȝour mest vsaunce? c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 586 Cleopatra, For to conqueren regnes and honour Vnto the tovne of Rome, as was vsaunce. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 159 Efter the custum of the contree, and the usaunce of the weris. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. vii, To doo suche a thinge, it is vsaunce of armes. 1513–4 Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 7 Accordyng to the olde usance and custome. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 134 By meane of which Proclamation, nothing was taken..but it were streight payed for.., which vsance continued but a while. 1620 E. Blount Horæ Subs. 49 That must bee referred to publike vsance, not to Cæsars power. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxxii. (1674) 90 Obsolete Proclamations and Edicts, which have lost their validity by contrary usance. 1715 M. Davies Athen. Brit. I. 224 The same different Martyrologe usance obtain'd here in England. 1825 New Monthly Mag. XIII. 19 Ruffs..were confined by special usance to the fair sex. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 194 By established usance, Miss Gravity is quite amiss [etc.]. 1878 J. J. Aubertin tr. Camoens' Lusiad ix. i, The Nereids' beauteous choir..grouped together move, In graceful dances, as of usance old. |
b. With a, this, or plural.
| c 1475 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 285 In thyse dayes ther is a hewsaunce, That puttyth the pore pepylle to grett hynderaunce. 1583 T. Stocker Civ. Warres Lowe C. iv. 40 Laudable and auncient Customes, Usances, and..particuler Rightes. 1606 Daniel Queen's Arcadia 2568 Custome..inchaines our iudgements and discourse Vnto the present vsances. 1658 Osborne Q. Eliz. Ep. A 3 b, Strangers to the Usances of the Ancients. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C., Venice 197 In our time this usance is not observed. 1860 Buckle in Huth Life (1880) II. 33, I have in this way heard something of the prospects and usances of teachers. |
c. Habit or custom on the part of the individual. Also with a, = usage n. 4 b.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. xvii. 440 This is a shameful customme and a vylaynous vsaunce for a Quene to vse. a 1568 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunterian Club) 195/42 In yowtheid vse the to temprance, And so begin the with vsance. 1862 Sala Acc. Addresses 226, I tried to recollect the things to which we have grown so accustomed.., that usance has begotten familiarity. |
2. = usage n. 6. Now arch.
| c 1460 Wisdom 658 in Macro Plays 57 Lust ys in so grett vsance. Ibid. 1031 Lo, wakynge ys a holy thynge! Þer yt ys hade with goode vsance, Many gracys of yt doth sprynge. a 1470 Harding Chron. cxii. i, He a nonne had rauyshed to his vsaunce. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn vii. 30 She fell doune dyuerse tymes in a swoune..or euer thusaunce of speche was in her restored. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men i. iv. (W. de W. 1506) E i, As sone as he cometh to haue dyscrecyon & vsaunce of vnderstandinge. 1591 Spenser Daphn. 503 Riches, beautie,..nought of them is yours, but th' onely vsance Of a small time. 1615 T. Adams Mystical Bedlam 59 But why doe you call this benefit made of our money, vsurie..? It is but vsance, and husbandring [sic] of our stocke. 1659 Fuller App. Inj. Innoc. I. 50 What was wanting..hath since sufficiently been supplyed..by usance thereof to Gods Service only. 1869 Ld. Lytton Poems (1894) 128 Life is good;..so is beauty. Mere stuff Are all these for Love's usance. |
† 3. Enjoyment by use. Obs.—1
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 306/1 Therto ben thre thynges necessarye:..Souerayne loue,..parfyght knowlege,..and perpetuel fruycion or usaunce. |
† 4. The practice or fact of lending or borrowing money at interest. Cf. use n. 5. Obs. rare.
| 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) I. 356/1 To borrow vppon vsance, to make the money which was required. 1585 Sidney Let. to Walsingham 1 Dec., I have takne up three hundred powndes of Hans Barnard at usance. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 109 Many a time and oft In the Ryalto you haue rated me About my monies and my vsances. 1611 R. Fenton Usury i. ii. 4 They will not call it Vsurie... But it shall be termed Vse or Vsance in exchange. |
b. = interest n. 10, use n. 5 b. Also fig.
The use in the 19th cent. is a literary revival.
| 1584 Lodge Alarm agst. Usurers D ij, My stocke might lye without vsaunce to my vtter vndooing. 1592 G. Harvey Four Lett. iii. 48 Vse heauenly Eloquence indeede: and employ thy golden talent with amounting vsance indeede. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 46 He..brings downe The rate of vsance here. 1615 Mellis Recorde's Gr. Arts 211 Sir, this is yet within the compasse of some reasonable vsance. |
| 1823 Byron Let. to Kinnaird 18 Jan., Make an investment of any spare monies as may render some usance to the owner. 1862 T. A. Trollope Marietta I. 30 The old Catholic doctrine that no usance whatever could be unsinfully received for the use of money. 1890 Hatton By Order of Czar i. iv, He..had made money by dint of saving his profits and lending them at fair usance. |
c. A document acknowledging a loan of money.
| 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. iv, One almost hopes he..had his [sc. a Jew's] usances and quittances and horseleech papers summarily set fire to! |
5. The time or period (varying in respect of different countries) allowed by commercial usage or law for the payment of a bill of exchange, etc., esp. as drawn in a foreign or distant land.
Orig. in the phrase at usance: see below.
| 1617 Moryson Itin. I. 278 Touching the exchange from London to Venice farther distant, by the word vsance three moneths are signified, and by double vsance six moneths. 1651 J. Marius Advice Bills of Exchange 20 You must not count every 30 Days a Usance,..but a moneth by denomination. 1682 J. Scarlett Exchanges 101 Sometimes Usance is taken for some certain time after the date of the Bill, some⁓times for some certain time after sight. 1728 Chambers Cycl. (1738) s.v., At London, usance is a calendar month; and double usance, two months. 1732 De Foe's Eng. Tradesman (ed. 3) I. 361 Usance from Antwerp or Amsterdam, payable to Venice, is two Months, payable in bank. 1759 Chesterfield Let. 2 Feb., The Specie, the Banco, Usances, Agio, and a thousand other particulars. 1834 McCulloch Dict. Commerce (ed. 2) 560 The usance and days of grace for bills drawn upon some of the principal commercial cities. 1875 Jevons Money 246 Government bonds..differ..in the fact that they have very long, or even interminable, usance. |
b. In the phr. at usance; at..usance(s).
| 1487 Cely Papers (Camden) 159, I hawe made yow ower be exchaunge..an ciiijxx nobulles ster: payabull at usuance [sic]. 1572 T. Wilson Disc. Usury 120 b, It shal go at vsance, which is a moneths time, at xxiiii.s. iiii.d. and at double vsance, which is ij. moneths time, at xxiiii.s. viii.d. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 278 Our Merchants write their bils of exchange..to bee paid, at sight, at vsance, at halfe vsance, and at double vsance. 1682 J. Scarlett Exchanges 25 At Usance, Pay this my first Bill of Exchange..to Mr. N. W. or his Order. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4070/8 A Bill of Exchange of 50l..., drawn at double Usance, on Monsieur Kesterman. 1716 Ibid. No. 5472/4 A First Foreign Bill of Exchange.., payable to Tho. Ellis at two Usance. 1849 Freese Comm. Class-bk. 73 A bill drawn in London upon Hamburg at usance, signifies..one month after it is dated; if at two usances, two months after date. 1878 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 795/1 No bills are now drawn in London at usance, and the practice is being gradually dropped in other countries. |