▪ I. † usure, n. Obs.
Also 4–5 vsere, 5 vsur, usur.
[a. OF. useure (13th c.), usure (also AF. and F.), ad. L. ūsūra (whence It., Sp., Pg. usura, Pr. uzura), n. of action f. ūs-us: see usury n.]
1. The fact or practice of lending money at interest. Cf. usury n. 1.
| a 1325 Prose Psalter liv. 11 Usure [L. usura] and trecherie ne failed nouȝt in his waies. [1382, 1388 Wyclif Ibid.] c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 277 Þat þe sotil vsure of riche clerkis & marchaundes be hurled out of lond. c 1400 Mandeville (1919) iii. 12 Men of Grece..sey also þat vsure is no dedly synne. 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 176 Thus they lyve..wyth suche chevesaunce That men calle usure, to oure losse and hinderaunce. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Armes (S.T.S.) 70 Thair digniteis, that thai have gottyn wrangwisly throu usur, scisme, or symony. c 1530 Pol., Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 60 What is vsure, but..a lawfulle thefe that tellyth ys entent. 1533 Bellenden Livy ii. xi. (S.T.S.) I. 167 Þis dett..was ay duplyit on him be vsure and okkir. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone i. i, I turne no moneys, in the public bank; Nor vsure priuate. |
| Personif. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 66 Hit witen..þat I, Fauuel, feffe Fals to þat mayden Meede,..With þe Yle of vsure And Auarice þe False. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 274 Upon the bench sittende on hih With Avarice Usure I sih. |
b. A usurious act or practice.
| a 1325 Prose Psalter lxxi. 14 He shal raunsoun her soules fram vsures and wickednes. 1382 Wyclif Ibid. c 1440 Alph. Tales 472 With myne vsuris I grevud God bothe day & nyght. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 188 Usuris and barat, subtilitee and trechery. |
2. = interest n. 10, usury n. 2. Also occas. at usure, to usure.
Freq. in Wyclif (1382), occas. in plural, tr. L. usuræ.
| 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 224 Þe chartres & þe scris þat noied Cristen men, Þat lay for vsure in pris elleuen als for ten. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 185 That is that for vsure Leneth to many a creature. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vii. 83 For beggeres borwen euermo and her borghe is god almyȝti, To ȝelden hem þat ȝiueth hem and ȝet vsure more. 1382 Wyclif Lev. xxv. 37 Thi money thow shalt not ȝyue to him to vsure. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7026 If a wight, out of mesure, Wolde lene his gold, and take vsure. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 431 b/1 That no Justycer shold..constrayne them that were bounden to the Jewes..to paye or yelde to them theyr vsure or growyng. a 1513 Fabyan Chron. vii. 353 As a Iewe wolde haue forced a Cristen man to haue gyuen to hym more than .ii.d. for the vsure of .xx.s. for a weke. |
▪ II. † usure, v. Obs.
[ad. OF. usurer (13th c.), ad. med.L. ūsūrāre (whence Sp. and Pg. usurar), f. L. ūsūra: see prec.]
1. intr. To practise usury; to lend at interest. Also fig.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 207 Þus God usuriþ for oure prow, for alle þingis..he ȝyveþ us for þis eende. 1382 ― Prov. xix. 17 He vsureth to the Lord, that hath reuthe of the pore. ― Jer. xv. 10. 1530 Palsgr. 769/2 If our charyte were utterly parfyte, one christenned man shulde nat usure with an other. |
2. trans. To lend (money) at a premium. rare—1.
| 1620 R. Brathwait Five Senses ii. 24 Oppresse I cannot, when I heare the Orphans teare... Vse my money, but vsure it I will not. |