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

Still, like a spreading ulcer, which leech-craft may not cure, Let your foul usance eat away the substance of the poor.

From Lays of Ancient Rome by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

I'll lend no money gratis and bring down the rate of usance.

From A Forest Hearth: A Romance of Indiana in the Thirties by Charles Major

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

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

Equally good house usance would cost more in nearly all towns, and much more in larger cities.

From Modern Economic Problems Economics Volume II by Frank Albert Fetter

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