I
/ju:s/ n.
1) to make ~ of
2) to put smt. to (good) ~
3) to find a ~ for
4) to lose; regain the ~ of (she lost the ~ of one arm)
5) to deny (the) ~ of (the visitors were denied ~ of the library)
6) constant; daily; emergency; extensive; external; internal; official; practical; universal; wide ~ (they made extensive ~ of computers)
7) (legal) fair ~
8) ~ for (do you have any ~ for this old paper?)
9) ~ in (is there any ~ in trying again?)
10) ~ of (what's the ~ of worrying?)
11) for ~ (for official ~ only)
12) in ~ (the copying machine is in ~)
13) of ~ to (it was of no earthly ~ to us; can I be of any ~ to you?)
14) ( misc. ) she has no ~ for them ('she dislikes them'); to come into ~; to go out of ~
USAGE NOTE: The following constructions are variants; the constructions with no prepositions are colloquial-- is there any ~ in trying again ?-- is there any ~ trying again ? what's the ~ of worrying ?-- what's the ~ worrying ?
II
/ju:z/ v.
1) to ~ widely
2) ( D ; tr. ) to ~ as (she ~d the candlestick as a paperweight)
3) ( D ; tr. ) to ~ for (let's ~ paper plates for the picnic)
4) ( E ; in positive sentences and neg. sentences with never this verb is ~d only in the past tense to denote a former practice or state; in interrogative sentences the infinitive of this verb occurs with didn't , did not ) she ~d to work there; there ~d to be an open field here; she never ~d to work there; didn't he ~ to work here?
USAGE NOTE: In neg. sentences with didn't , did not , this verb occurs with the infinitive and, colloquially, with the past tense--she didn't ~/~d to work there. In old-fashioned BE , constructions such as the following may occur--~d she (not) to work there? she ~d not to work there.