Abuse
Abuse ({not transcribed}) , transitive verb
[French abuser; Latin abusus, past participle of abuti to abuse, misuse; ab + uti to use. See Use.]
1.
To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority.
This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity.
2.
To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's powers, one's patience.
3.
To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage.
The... tellers of news abused the general.
4.
To dishonor.
Shall flight abuse your name?
5.
To violate; to ravish. — Spenser
6.
To deceive; to impose on. [Obsolete]
Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object.
Abuse ({not transcribed}) , noun
[French abus, Latin abusus, from abuti. See Abuse, transitive verb]
1.
Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad purpose; misuse; as, an abuse of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an abuse of language.
Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.
2.
Physical ill treatment; injury.
Rejoice... at the abuse of Falstaff.
3.
A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service.
Abuse after disappeared without a struggle..
4.
Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling.
The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows.
5.
Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child. [Obsolete]
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
Collocations (1)
Abuse of distress (Law) , a wrongful using of an animal or chattel distrained, by the distrainer.