a. The act, manner, or amount of using; use: patterns of computer usage; an instrument that measures water usage.

b. The act or manner of treating; treatment: subjected the car to rough usage.

a. Habitual or accepted practice: customs that have faded from common usage.

b. A usual, habitual, or accepted practice: manners and other social usages.

a. The way in which words or phrases are actually used, spoken, or written in a speech community: "Dictionaries are but the depositories of words already legitimated by usage" (Thomas Jefferson).

b. A particular expression in speech or writing: a nonce usage.