transcription, транскрипция: [ ̘. ̈n.əˈbju:s ]
noun (Drugs) (People and Society) Illegal or excessive use of a drug; the misuse of any substance, especially for its stimulant effects. In the context of human relationships, physical (especially sexual) maltreatment of another person. Etymology: These are not so much new senses of the word as specializations of context; abuse has meant 'wrong or improper use, misapplication, perversion' since the sixteenth century, but in the second half of the twentieth century has been used so often in the two contexts mentioned above that this is becoming the dominant use. History and Usage: Abuse was first used in relation to drugs in the early sixties; by the seventies it was usual for it to be the second element in compounds such as alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and solvent abuse, and soon afterwards with a human object as the first word: see child abuse. Interestingly it is not idiomatic to form similar compounds for other types of abuse in its traditional sense: the abuse of power rather than 'power abuse', for example. This is one way in which the language continues to differentiate the traditional use from the more specialized one, although there have been some recent exceptions (a tennis player who throws his racquet about in anger or frustration can now be cautioned for racquet abuse, for example). This is a setback for the campaign against increasing heroin abuse among the young in all parts of the country. Sunday Times 9 Dec. 1984, p. 3 Just over 30 per cent of the girls questioned said they had tried solvent abuse. Daily Express 20 Aug. 1986, p. 2 Asked why she continued diagnosing abuse after three appeals from other agencies to stop because they could not cope, she replied: 'With hindsight, at the time we were trying to do our best for them. In the event, with some children, we were sadly unable to do that.' Guardian 14 July 1989, p. 2