BIGpedia - Abuse - Encyclopedia and Dictionary Online

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1 English

English

French abus , Latin abusus , from abuti - See also verb below.

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.
Quotations
- Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power - Madison
Physical ill treatment; injury.
Quotations
- Rejoice ... at the abuse of Falstaff. - Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, V,iii
A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service.
Quotations
- Abuse after disappeared without a struggle.. - Macaulay
Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling .
Quotations
- The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows. - Macaulay
Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child.
Quotations
- Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? - Shakespeare, Hamlet, IV,vii

Invective; contumely ; reproach; scurrility ; insult; opprobrium.
Abuse and Invective distinguished
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

Abuse of distress - (Law): a wrongful using of an animal or chattel distrained , by the distrainer .

French abuser; Latin abusus, past participle of abuti to abuse, misuse ; ab + uti to use. See Use

Imperfect and past participle: Abused
Present participle: Abusing

To put to a wrong use; to misapply ; to use improperly; 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.
Quotations
- This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity - Froude
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.
To revile ; to reproach coarsely ; to disparage.
Quotations
- The ... tellers of news abused the general - Macaulay
To dishonor
Quotations
- your renowned name: shall flight abuse it? - Shakespeare, Henry VI, pt 3, IV,v
To violate; to ravish - Spenser
(Obsolete): To deceive; to impose on
Quotations
- Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object - Jer. Taylor

To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify; vituperate ; asperse ; traduce ; malign .