use Definition

use
verb used, using

1. To put to a particular purpose.

Thesaurus: utilize, employ, exercise, exploit, handle, manipulate, wield.
2. To consume; to take something as fuel.

Thesaurus: spend, expend, exhaust, waste.
3. To treat someone as a means to benefit oneself; to exploit them.
4. slang
To take (eg drugs or alcohol) regularly.
5. old use
To behave (well or badly) towards someone.

noun

1. The act of using.

Thesaurus: employment, exploitation, utilization, application, practice, performance, exercise, handling, management, treatment, technique, manipulation.
2. The state of being (able to be) used.

Example: go out of use
Example: not in use
3. A practical purpose a thing can be put to.
4. The quality of serving a practical purpose

Example: It's no use complaining
Example: Is this spanner any use?
Thesaurus: utility, usefulness, helpfulness, serviceability, practicality, convenience, effectiveness, expedience, merit, value, advantage.
5. The ability or power to use something (eg a limb).

Example: lost the use of her leg after the accident
6. The length of time a thing is, will be or has remained serviceable.

Example: should give you plenty of use
7. The habit of using; custom.

Idiom: have no use for something or someone

To have no need of it or them.

colloq
To dislike or despise it or them.

Idiom: make use of someone

To exploit them.

Idiom: make use of something

To put it to a practical purpose.

Idiom: use by

Said of perishable food: recommended to be consumed by the specified date. Also as adj.
Example: use by Dec 99
Example: The use-by date was clearly marked

Idiom: used to something or someone (used to doing something, used to being something)

Accustomed to it or them, or to doing or being it. See also separate entry used to.
Example: She's not used to working so fast
Example: used to being in charge of two hundred people
Example: The puppies haven't got used to us yet
Thesaurus: accustomed to, experienced in, practised at.

Idiom: used up

colloq
Tired or exhausted.

Etymology: 13c: from French user, from Latin usus, from uti to use.

Phrasal Verb: use something up

To exhaust supplies, etc.To finish off an amount left over.