Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Usury

U′su·ry (ū′zhū·ry̆), n. [OE. usurie, usure, F. usure, L. usura use, usury, interest, fr. uti, p. p. usus, to use. See Use, v. t.]

1. A premium or increase paid, or stipulated to be paid, for a loan, as of money; interest. [Obs. or Archaic]

Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury. Deut. xxiii. 19.

Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchanges, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Matt. xxv. 27.

What he borrows from the ancients, he repays with usury of his own. Dryden.

2. The practice of taking interest. [Obs.]

Usury . . . bringeth the treasure of a realm or state into a few hands. Bacon.

3. (Law) Interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money.

☞ The practice of requiring in repayment of money lent anything more than the amount lent, was formerly thought to be a great moral wrong, and the greater, the more was taken. Now it is not deemed more wrong to take pay for the use of money than for the use of a house, or a horse, or any other property. But the lingering influence of the former opinion, together with the fact that the nature of money makes it easier for the lender to oppress the borrower, has caused nearly all Christian nations to fix by law the rate of compensation for the use of money. Of late years, however, the opinion that money should be borrowed and repaid, or bought and sold, upon whatever terms the parties should agree to, like any other property, has gained ground everywhere. Am. Cyc.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.