usurer
English edit
Etymology edit
Anglo-Norman, from Old French usurier, Latin ūsūra (“interest”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈjuːʒəɹə/, /ˈjuːzjəɹə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈjuːʒəɹəɹ/, /ˈjuːʒɹəɹ/[1]
Audio (US) (file)
Noun edit
usurer (plural usurers)
- A person who loans money to others and charges interest, particularly at an exorbitant, exploitative, or illegal rate.
- 1593, Thomas Nash, Christs Teares Over Iervsalem. Whereunto is annexed a comparatiue admonition to London.[1], London: Thomas Thorp, published 1613, →OCLC, page 105; republished as Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem: Whereunto is Annexed A comparative Admonition to London, 1815, page 97:
- Vſurers, you are none of theſe cryers vnto God, but thoſe that hourely vnto God are most cryde out againſt. God hath cryde out vnto you by his Preachers, GOD hath cride out vnto you by the poore ; Pryſoners on their death-beds haue cride out of you : and when they haue had but one houre to interceſſionate for their ſoules, and ſue out the pardon of their numberleſſe ſins, the whole of that howre (ſauing one minute, when in two words they cryde for mercy,) haue they ſpent, in crying for vengeance againſt you.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 4”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:
- Profitless usurer, why dost thou use
So great a sum of sums, yet canst not live?
- 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XLIII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:
- "You can go to the Carpetbag usurers if you want money."
Synonyms edit
Hyponyms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
one who loans money at exorbitant interest rates
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References edit
- ^ “usurer”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Noun edit
usurer
- Alternative form of usurere
Swedish edit
Noun edit
usurer
- indefinite plural of usur