Abuse

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (v. t.) To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage.

(2): (v. t.) To dishonor.

(3): (v. t.) To violate; to ravish.

(4): (v. t.) To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's powers, one's patience.

(5): (v. t.) To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority.

(6): (v. t.) Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad purpose; misuse; as, an abuse of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an abuse of language.

(7): (v. t.) Physical ill treatment; injury.

(8): (v. t.) A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service.

(9): (v. t.) Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling.

(10): (v. t.) Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child.

(11): (v. t.) To deceive; to impose on.

King James Dictionary

ABU'SE, s as z. L. abutor, abusus of ab and utor, to use Gr. to accustom. See Use.

1. To use : to maltreat to misuse to use with bad motives or to wrong purposes as, to abuse rights or privileges.

They that use this world as not abusing it.  1 Corinthians 7

2. To violate to defile by improper sexual intercourse. 3. To deceive to impose on.

Nor be with all these tempting words abused.

4. To treat rudely, or with reproachful language to revile.

He mocked and abused them shamefully.

5. To pervert the meaning of to misapply as to abuse words.

ABU'SE, n. Ill use improper treatment or employment application to a wrong purpose as an abuse of our natural powers an abuse of rights, or of religious privileges abuse of advantages, &c.

Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.

2. A corrupt practice or custom, as the abuses of government. 3. Rude speech reproachful language addressed to a person contumely reviling words. 4. Seduction.

After the abuse he forsook me.

5. Perversion of meaning improper use or application as an abuse of words.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

a - būz ´: "To dishonor," "to make mock of," "to insult," etc. (1) Translated in the Old Testament from עלל , ‛ālal , "to do harm," "to defile" ( Judges 19:25 ), "to make mock of" ( 1 Samuel 31:4 ). (2) Translated in the New Testament from ἀρσενοκοίτης , arsenokoı́tēs , literally, "one who lies with a male," "a sodomite" ( 1 Corinthians 6:9;  1 Timothy 1:10; the King James Version "for them that defile themselves with mankind"). (3) In the King James Version  1 Corinthians 7:31 "as not abusing it," from καταχράομαι , katachráomai , "to abuse," i.e. misuse; the Revised Version (British and American) "using it to the full," also  1 Corinthians 9:18 . See Use .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

in ecclesiastical law, is applied to a permutation of benefices without the consent of the bishop, which is consequently null.