The Word of the Day

usance \YOO-zuns\ noun
1 : firmly established and generally accepted practice or procedure : usage
2 : use, employment
*3 : interest
4 : the time allowed by custom for payment of a bill of exchange in foreign commerce

Example sentence: "Make an investment of any spare monies as may render some usance." (Lord Byron)

Did you know? "Usance" was borrowed from Latin in the 14th century as a word meaning "habit" or "custom." In the late 16th century, its worth was compounded when it became a word for both the lending of money at interest and the interest charged. Both meanings were known to Shakespeare when he was writing _The Merchant of Venice_ (1596). "He lends out money gratis, and brings down [t]he rate of usance here with us in Venice," says the usurer Shylock of the protagonist Antonio. And, later in the play, Shylock tells how Antonio has "rated ... about [his] moneys and [his] usances." Unexplainably, the currency of these uses plummeted shortly after appearing in the play, only to be revived in the 19th century.