[us.age] n [ME, fr. MF, fr. us use] (14c) 1 a: firmly established and generally accepted practice or procedure b: a uniform certain reasonable lawful practice existing in a particular locality or occupation and binding persons entering into transactions chiefly on the basis of presumed familiarity c: the way in which words and phrases are actually used (as in a particular form or sense) in a language community
2. a: the action, amount, or mode of using "a decrease in the ~ of electricity" b: manner of treating "suffered ill ~ at the hands of his captors" syn see habit