usance

Inherited from Middle English usaunce, from Old French usance.

usance (countable and uncountable, plural usances)

1. The length of time permitted for the payment of a bill of exchange.
2. Use.
3. Customary or habitual usage.
4. The interest paid on a borrowed sum, usury.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     He lends out money gratis,and brings downe
     The rate of vſance here with vs in Venice.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “usance”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• Cesuna, uncase

By surface analysis, user +‎ -ance.

• IPA^(key): /y.zɑ̃s/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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usance f (plural usances)

1. usury
2. (obsolete) usage

• → German: Usance

• “usance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012