ABUSE

Definitions

1. 1. To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority. This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. Froude.
2. 2. To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's powers, one's patience.
3. 3. To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage. The . . . tellers of news abused the general. Macaulay.
4. 4. To dishonor. "Shall flight abuse your name" Shak.
5. 5. To violate; to ravish. Spenser.
6. 6. To deceive; to impose on. [Obs.] Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object. Jer. Taylor.