usance

****************************************************************
Introducing WORD SWEEP!, the first board game to feature Merriam-Webster definitions! Enjoy hours of challenging fun. Try it at:
http://www.wordsweep.com 
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for April 30 is:

usance   \YOO-zuns\   noun 
     1 : firmly established and generally accepted practice or procedure : usage  
     2 : use, employment  
    *3 : interest  
     4 : the time allowed by custom for payment of a bill of exchange in foreign commerce

Example sentence:
     "Make an investment of any spare monies as may render some usance." (Lord Byron)

Did you know?
     "Usance" was borrowed from Latin in the 14th century as a word meaning "habit" or "custom." In the late 16th century, its worth was compounded when it became a word for both the lending of money at interest and the interest charged. Both meanings were known to Shakespeare when he was writing _The Merchant of Venice_ (1596). "He lends out money gratis, and brings down [t]he rate of usance here with us in Venice," says the usurer Shylock of the protagonist Antonio. And, later in the play, Shylock tells how Antonio has "rated ... about [his] moneys and [his] usances." Unexplainably, the currency of these uses plummeted shortly after appearing in the play, only to be revived in the 19th century.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.





You Are Subscribed As: [email protected]
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102