abusio

[Lat. (in rhetoric) = a false use of words: abutor = to misuse.] A misuse of words. The error in composition called by the Greeks κατάχρησις (katachrēsis), a term adopted by modern logicians to signify the substitution of a wrong for the right word in any sentence; as if one who killed his mother were called a parricide instead of a matricide. *a-bu-şion, s. [ABUSIO.] 1. An error in doctrine, an inconsistency in reasoning; an incongruity. (O. Eng . & 0. Scotch . ) "And certes that were an abusion That God should have no perfite clere weting More than we inen." (Chaucer: Troilus , bk. iv. 2. An error in practice, a sin, an abuse. the vtter extirpation of false doctrine, the roote and chief cause of all abusions ."-Udal: Pref. to IMG:content-0062.png:[blocks in formation] 200. "Scurrilous abusive terms."- South: Sermons, viil (3) Of words spoken or written: (a) Used wrongly, used in an improper sense, misapplied. "I am for distinction' sake nece itated to use the word Parliament improperly, according to the abusive accept i on thereof for these latter years."- Fuller : Worthies of England , vol. i., ch. xviii. * (b) Deceitful, fraudulent. whatsoever is gained by an abusive treaty, ought to be restored in integrum."- Bacon: Consid on War with Spain. a-bū's-ive-ly, adv. [ABUSIVE. ] 1. In an abusive manner; spec ., with the use of bad language. *2. Applied to a wora wrongly used. the oil abusively called spirit of roses." Boyle: Sceptical Chemist.