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
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
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
An anonymous modern wood-cut of Death seizing a usurer, over whom another Death is throwing a counterpane.
From The Dance of Death Exhibited in Elegant Engravings on Wood with a Dissertation on the Several Representations of that Subject but More Particularly on Those Ascribed to Macaber and Hans Holbein by Francis Douce
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