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usurymore about usury

usury


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Usury  \U"su*ry\,  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  ??is  own  --Dryden. 
 
  2.  The  practice  of  taking  interest.  [Obs.] 
 
  Usury  .  .  .  bringeth  the  treasure  of  a  realm  or 
  state  into  a  few  ??nds.  --Bacon. 
 
  3.  (Law)  Interest  in  excess  of  a  legal  rate  charged  to  a 
  borrower  for  the  use  of  money. 
 
  Note:  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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  usury 
  n  :  an  exorbitant  or  unlawful  rate  of  interest 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Usury 
  the  sum  paid  for  the  use  of  money,  hence  interest;  not  as  in 
  the  modern  sense  exorbitant  interest.  The  Jews  were  forbidden 
  to  exact  usury  (Lev.  25:36,  37),  only,  however,  in  their 
  dealings  with  each  other  (Deut.  23:19,  20).  The  violation  of 
  this  law  was  viewed  as  a  great  crime  (Ps.  15:5;  Prov.  28:8;  Jer. 
  15:10).  After  the  Return,  and  later  this  law  was  much  neglected 
  (Neh.  5:7,  10). 
 




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