A*buse" (&?;), n. [F. abus, L. abusus, fr.
abuti. See Abuse,
v. t.]
1. Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad purpose; misuse; as, an abuse
of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an abuse of language.
Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.
Madison.
2. Physical ill treatment; injury. "Rejoice . . .
at the abuse of Falstaff."
Shak.
3. A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the
abuses in the civil service.
Abuse after disappeared without a struggle..
Macaulay.
4. Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling.
The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of
abuse, came to blows.
Macaulay.
5. Violation; rape; as, abuse of a
female child.
[Obs.]
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
Shak.
Abuse of distress (Law),
a wrongful using of an animal
or chattel distrained, by the distrainer.
Syn. -- Invective; contumely; reproach; scurrility; insult; opprobrium. -- Abuse, Invective.
Abuse is generally prompted by anger, and vented in harsh and
unseemly words. It is more personal and coarse than invective. Abuse
generally takes place in private quarrels; invective in writing or public discussions. Invective may be conveyed in refined language and dictated by indignation against what is blameworthy. C. J. Smith.
A*buse" (&?;), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Abused (&?;);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Abusing.]
[F. abuser; L. abusus, p. p. of
abuti to abuse, misuse; ab + uti to use. See
Use.] 1. To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to
put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make
an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority.
This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity.
Froude.
2. To use
ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish
or to tax
excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's
powers, one's patience.
3. To revile; to
reproach coarsely; to disparage.
The . . . tellers of news abused the general.
Macaulay.
4. To dishonor. "Shall flight abuse your name?" Shak.
5. To violate; to ravish.
Spenser.
6. To deceive; to impose on. [Obs.]
Their eyes red
and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object.
Jer. Taylor.
Syn. -- To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify; vituperate; asperse; traduce; malign.
Hear it pronounced