usurer
Americannoun
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a person who lends money and charges interest, especially at an exorbitant or unlawful rate; moneylender.
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Obsolete. a person who lends money at interest.
noun
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a person who lends funds at an exorbitant rate of interest
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obsolete a moneylender
Etymology
Origin of usurer
1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French < Medieval Latin ūsūrārius, equivalent to ūsūr ( ia ) usury + Latin -ārius -ary
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Himself a usurer, Shakespeare must have known how much he had invested in Shylock.
From New York Times • May 7, 2010
Nicholas' Uncle Ralph, a wily usurer and the evil genius of the piece, discovers his humanity too late, so that it ends by destroying him.
From Time Magazine Archive
But in 1884, a sickly boy was born in the Ghetto at Leghorn, Tuscany, to Flaminio Modigliani, son of a Roman usurer.
From Time Magazine Archive
He does, however, object to the second: "As a name of opprobrium or reprobation; spec. applied to a grasping or extortionate moneylender or usurer, or a trader who drives hard bargains or deals craftily."
From Time Magazine Archive
For it is said that Flamel was a usurer, and that his philosopher’s stone was ‘cent per cent.’
From Witch, Warlock, and Magician Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland by Adams, W. H. Davenport (William Henry Davenport)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
