usury, n.
(ˈjuːzjʊərɪ)
Forms: α. 4–6 vsurye, 5–6 usurye, 7 -ie, 5–7 vsury, -ie, 6 -ee, 5– usury. β. 4–5 vsery(e, 4, 6 vserie, 6–7 usery.
[a. AF. *usurie, ad. med.L. ūsūria, f. L. ūs-us, pa. pple. of ūtī to use. Cf. usure n.]
1. The fact or practice of lending money at interest; esp. in later use, the practice of charging, taking, or contracting to receive, excessive or illegal rates of interest for money on loan.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2417 To whom þat vsery ys lefe, Gostely he ys a þefe. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. ii. 175 Lat sadel hem with siluer owre synne to suffre, As auoutrie..and derne vsurye. c 1445 Pecock Donet 68 Siþen in vseri þe leener..compelliþ þe borewer to..paie a summe of his owne good bisidis þe summe borewid. 1487 Act 3 Hen. VI, c. 6 That all unlefull Chevysaunces and Usurye be dampned, and none to be used, upon payne [etc.]. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.) 23 Some lyve by rapyne,..and some in usury. 1595 M. Mosse (title), Arraignment and Conviction of Vsurie. That is, the Iniquitie, and Vnlawfulnes of Vsurie, displayed in sixe Sermons. 1643 Milton Divorce 33 The Christian Magistrate permits usury. 1663 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 195, I hate this rack-renting; 'tis worse than usury. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 114 ¶1 His Estate is dipped, and is eating out with Usury. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 520 The crime of usury, before the Reformation, consisted in the taking of any interest for the use of money; and now in taking an higher rate of interest than is authorised by law. 1787 Bentham Def. Usury ii. 7, I know of but two definitions that can possibly be given of usury: one is, the taking of a greater interest than the law allows of... The other is the taking of a greater interest than it is usual for men to give and take. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 338 The criminality of usury..[consists] in exacting more than the usual rate of the market. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy-bk. Prop. Law xiv. 87 The statutes against usury..are repealed, so that you may take for your money whatever amount of interest you can get. |
| Personif. c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 644 Pety capteyns.., As..Vsury, Periury, Ly, and Adulacion. c 1430 ― Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 172 Usurye lyethe fetrede in dystresse. 1606 Dekker Sev. Sins ii. (Arb.) 22 Thou doest likewise Lye with Vsury. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 28 O vsurie.., how much haue we Occasion to proscribe thee from our land. |
| attrib. 1813 (title), A Treatise on the Usury Laws with Disquisitions on the Arguments adduced against them by Bentham. |
2. Premium or interest on money (or goods) given or received on loan;
† gain made by lending money. Now
arch.| c 1440 Alph. Tales 472 Þer was ane vsurar þat wolde neuer restore his vsurie agayn. 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 365 With increase of dowble vsurie. 1567 Termes Laws (1579) 184/1 Vsurie is a gayne of any thing aboue the principal, or that which was lent, exacted onely in consideration of the loane, whether it be of corne, meat,..or such like, as money. 1600 Holland Livy 262 Albeit the Vsurie was well eased by bringing it downe from twelve to one. 1621 Culpepper Tract agst. Usury 8 For Vsury going at ten in the hundred, if a man borrow fiue pounds [etc.]. 1690 Child Disc. Trade 209 The rate of Usury is the measure by which all men Trade,..or any other ways bargain. 1729 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 II. 273 This may bring down the common usury to the pitch it is determined at by law. 1746 P. Francis tr. Horace, Sat. i. ii. 14 note, The Laws allowed an Usury..which doubled the capital Sum in an hundred Months. |
b. fig. and in
fig. context. Freq.
with usury.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Pet. 2 That you may waxe riche in the encreasing vsury of good workes, more and more. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 27 Behold what ye this day haue done for mee, And what I cannot quite, requite with vsuree. 1595 ― Col. Clout 39 Of good passed newly to discus, By dubble vsurie doth twise renew it. 1606 B. Jonson Hymenæi C 4 Haste, therefore,..and call, Away: The gentle Night is prest to pay The vsurie of long delights, She owes to these protracted rites. 1661 Rust Origen's Opin. 66 What is it then..which they may not have with usury and advantage in a body of purer Consistence? 1695 Pepys in Academy 9 Aug. (1890) 111/1, I repay you with usury yo{supr} kinde Wishes. 1732 T. Lediard Sethos II. ix. 342 The motive of taking Siga has been accomplish'd with usury. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 48 ¶10 [He] must not only pay back the hours but pay them back with usury. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. 117 Learning paid back what it received..with usury. 1813 Shelley Q. Mab iv. 209 They have three words:—well tyrants know their use, Well pay them for the loan, with usury. 1842 Tennyson Talking Oak 196, I would have paid her kiss for kiss, With usury thereto. |
c. In the phrases
at usury,
to usury,
on usury,
upon usury.
| 13.. Prose Psalter xiv. 6 (Dublin MS.), He þat ȝaf mony to vsurye ne toke noȝt ȝiftes vp on innocentes. 1535 Coverdale Deut. xxiii. 20 Vnto a straunger thou maiest lende vpon vsury. 1579 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 62 Lett me borrow them both upon tolerable usurye. 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 283 That it might not be lawfull for those to borrow upon usurie. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 35 Taking mony at usurie, for the present payment of interest. 1702 Eng. Theophrastus 332 'Tis lending on Usury, under the pretence of giving freely. 1844 tr. M. T. Asmar's Mem. Babylonian Princess II. 105 If I put it [sc. corn] at usury, shall not my bones howl from my grave. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 17 The man who does not..lend his capital upon ‘usury’ is.. lacking in his duty to himself or his family. |
† 3. pl. Instances or kinds of usury.
Obs.| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 284 Their rootes of debts..bring foorth infinite troubles and intolerable usuries. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 7 Since of two vsuries the merriest was put downe, and the worser allow'd by order of Law. 1611 ― Cymb. iii. iii. 45 Did you but know the Citties Vsuries, And felt them knowingly. |
† 4. transf. Increase, augmentation; advantage.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 352 Howe bountifull a seruitour is the earthe, to the husbandeman? what vsurie doeth it pay for that which it borroweth? 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 71 Diuine we hence, or rather reckon right, What vsury and proffit doth arise, By keeping well these..creatures white. 1613 Heywood Silver Age iii. G 3, With full sickles You shall receiue the vsury of their seeds. 1624 ― Gunaik. 31 The profitable usurie arising from agriculture. |
† 5. The use or employment of anything.
rare.
| 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. iv. ii, To prostitute my brest to the Dukes sonne: And put my selfe to common vsury. 1625 Gill Sacr. Philos. ii. 127 That thou mightest inioy the usury of this aire but for the time. |
Hence
† ˈusury v. trans., to give
out (favours), with a view to advantageous return.
Obs.| 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 368 We usury out, not bestow our Favours, each Curtesie being a Designe not so much of doing, as receiving good, with unconscionable Advantage. |