In eld [old age] is both wisdom and usage.
Chaucer.
Syn. — Custom; use; habit. — Usage, Custom. These words, as here
compared, agree in expressing the idea of habitual practice; but a
custom is not necessarily a usage. A custom may belong to many, or to a
single individual. A usage properly belongs to the great body of a
people. Hence, we speak of usage, not of custom, as the law of
language. Again, a custom is merely that which has been often repeated,
so as to have become, in a good degree, established. A usage must be
both often repeated and of long standing. Hence, we speak of a "hew
custom," but not of a "new usage." Thus, also, the "customs of society"
is not so strong an expression as the "usages of society." "Custom, a
greater power than nature, seldom fails to make them worship." Locke.
"Of things once received and confirmed by use, long usage is a law
sufficient." Hooker. In law, the words usage and custom are often used
interchangeably, but the word custom also has a technical and
restricted sense. See Custom, n., 3.
<! p. 1588 !>
Us"a*ger (?), n. [F. usager.] One who has the use of anything in trust
for another. [Obs.] Daniel.