usance

American  

[yoo-zuhns] / ˈju zəns /

noun

1. Commerce. a length of time, exclusive of days of grace and varying in different places, allowed by custom or usage for the payment of foreign bills of exchange.

2. Economics. the income of benefits of every kind derived from the ownership of wealth.

3. Archaic.

   1. use.

   2. custom; habit.

4. Obsolete. usury.

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usance British  

/ ˈjuːzəns /

noun

1. commerce the period of time permitted by commercial usage for the redemption of foreign bills of exchange

2. rare unearned income

3. an obsolete word for usage usury use

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Etymology

Origin of usance

1350–1400; Middle English usaunce < Old French usance, probably < Medieval Latin ūsantia, derivative of Latin ūsant- (stem of ūsāns ), present participle of ūsāre to use; see -ance

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

usance

The term "usance" is sometimes employed to express the period of running in foreign bills.

From The Gentleman's Model Letter-writer A Complete Guide to Correspondence on All Subjects, with Commercial Forms by Anonymous

"Ah, no, sir; never, sir, do I forget the green fairy for the great musician, sir," was the answer, evidently a set one, its polite angles worn away by daily usance.

From Melomaniacs by James Huneker

The usance of wealth and the service of laborers at the moment rendered constitute forms of income.

From Modern Economic Problems Economics Volume II by Frank Albert Fetter

It means a certain time fixed by custom as between any two places, and the period covered by a usance will therefore depend on the places of drawing and payment.

From The Gentleman's Model Letter-writer A Complete Guide to Correspondence on All Subjects, with Commercial Forms by Anonymous

I heard that there followed hard on the jewels Two braces of stallions of striking resemblance, 20 Dappled and yellow; he granted him usance Of horses and treasures.

From Beowulf An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem by Lesslie Hall

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