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usurer

[yoo-zher-er]
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noun
  1. a person who lends money and charges interest, especially at an exorbitant or unlawful rate; moneylender.
  2. Obsolete. a person who lends money at interest.
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Origin of usurer

1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French < Medieval Latin ūsūrārius, equivalent to ūsūr(ia) usury + Latin -ārius -ary
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for usurer

Historical Examples

  • Appeal to the higher powers if you dare, and I'll make you repent it, you usurer!

    Tales And Novels, Volume 9 (of 10)

    Maria Edgeworth

  • Rooney appears to be a money-lender, a usurer—most probably a Jew.

    Jack Hinton

    Charles James Lever

  • If I were a usurer I could not put out money to a better advantage.

    Hidden Hand

    Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

  • He had been plundered by every usurer in the Levant, and in turn had taken them in.

    Tancred

    Benjamin Disraeli

  • He was a usurer, though he could be very liberal when his policy demanded.

British Dictionary definitions for usurer

usurer

noun
  1. a person who lends funds at an exorbitant rate of interest
  2. obsolete a moneylender
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for usurer

n.

late 13c., from Old French usurier, from Medieval Latin usurarius "usurer," from Latin adj. usurarius "pertaining to interest," from usura (see usury).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper