usury

Etymology

From Middle English usurie, from Latin ūsūria, from ūsūra (“lending at interest, usury”) from ūsus (“use”), from stem of ūtī (“to use”). Compare usurp and use.

noun

  1. (countable) An exorbitant rate of interest, in excess of any legal rates or at least immorally.
  2. (uncountable) The practice of lending money at such rates.
  3. (uncountable, archaic or historical) The practice of lending money at interest.
    The most hated sort, and with the greatest reason, is usury, which makes a gain out of money itself, and not from the natural object of it. For money was intended to be used in exchange, but not to increase at interest. 4th century BCE, Aristotle, translated by Benjamin Jowett, Politics, Book I, Part X
  4. (uncountable, obsolete) Profit.

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