abuse

t. [Fr. abuser; Sp. abusar; Ital a bus are; Lat. abutor, pret. abusus = (1) to use up, (2) to misuse: ab = removal by; utor =to use, viz., to remove by use, to use up; Irish idh; Wel. gweth use; Gr. ἔθω ( etho ) =to be accustomed.] [USE.] *L. To disuse, to give up the practice of anything. ( Old Scotch .) "At [that] the futbal and golf be abusit in tym cummyng, and the butt is maid naid up and schuting us it after the tenor of the act of parly ament."-Parl Ja. 111. (1471), ed. 1814, p. 100. IL. In a general sense: To put to an improper use, to misuse. "And they that use this world, as not abusing it."1 Cor . vii. 31. III. Spec.: 1. To maltreat, to act cruelly to a man. lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me."-1 Sam. xxx i. 4. 2. To use bad language to, to reproach coarsely, to disparage. "All the hearers and tellers of news abused the general who furnished them them with so little news to hear and to tell." - Macaulay: Hist . Eng ., ch. xiv. general 3. To violate a woman. xix. 25. and they knew her, and abused her."-Judg. Law : To abuse a female child is to have carnal intercourse with her, which, if she be under ten years of age, is felony, even if she consent. 4. To disfigure ( applied to persons or things). "Poor soul, thy face is much abused with tears." Shakesp.: Romeo and Juliet , iv. 1. 5. To deceive, impose upon. "The world hath been much abused by the opinion of making old."-Bacon: Nat. Hist. 6. Applied to Language: To use in an illegitimate sense, to wrest words from their proper meaning. "This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity."-Froude: Hist. Eng.