custom

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(Following Latin American custom, his last name is actually "Moulitsas", not "Zúniga".)

—VivirLatino

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American Heritage Dictionary (11)

noun A practice followed by people of a particular group or region.
noun A habitual practice of a person: my custom of reading a little before sleep. See Synonyms at habit.
noun Law A common tradition or usage so long established that it has the force or validity of law.

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Century Dictionary (19)

The common use or practice, either of an individual or of a community, but especially of the latter; habitual repetition of the same act or procedure; established manner or way. And we do not as custome is, We are worth to be blamyd, i-wysse, I wolde we dyd nothing amys As God me speyd. York Plays, p. 440. The country custome maketh things decent in vse, as in Asia for all men to weare long gownes both a foot and horsebacke. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 239. I know this Custom in you yet is but a light Disposition; it is no Habit, I hope. Howell, Letters, I. v. 11. I may notice that habit is formed by the frequent repetition of the same action or passion, and that this repetition is called consuetude, or custom. The latter terms, which properly signify the cause, are not unfrequently abusively employed for habit, their effect. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., x. We are all living according to custom; we do as other people do, and shrink from an act of our own. Emerson, Fortune of the Republic.
In law, collectively, the settled habitudes of a community, such as are and have been for an indefinite time past generally recognized in it as the standards of what is just and right; ancient and general usage having the force of law. Some writers use the word without qualification, as meaning only general customs—that is, such as are prevalent throughout the nation; and some as meaning only local or particular customs, such as obtain only in a particular class, vocation, or place. In modern use, custom is more appropriate to immemorial habitudes, either general or characteristic of a particular district and having legal force, and usage to the habitudes of a particular vocation or trade. In the history of France the term custom is applied specifically to numerous systems of ancient usage which were judicially recognized as binding upon their respective communities before the revolution of 1789, or until the promulgation of the Code Napoléon: as, the custom of Normandy, of Brittany, of Orleans, etc. There were 60 general customs (each extending over a whole province) and 165 particular customs (those of cities, bishoprics, etc.) reduced to writing. The custom of Paris was established by the French as the law of Canada, and many of its provisions were embodied in the Code Napoléon. The new tenant may not challenge any by costome, but [only] by sufferance of the ould tenants. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 437. The fraunchiseℨ and free custumes whiche beth gode in the saide toune I shall meyntene. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 416. Customs within each country existed before statutes, and so observances come imperceptibly and control the conduct of a circle of nations. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 28.
The buying of goods or supplying of one's current needs; the practice of having recourse to some particular place, shop, manufactory, house of entertainment, etc., for the purpose of purchasing or giving orders. It is much to be doubted, there will neither come custome nor any thing from thence to England within these few yeares. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, II. 80. Let him have your custom, but not your votes. Addison.

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This custom was and still is universally accepted throughout Jewish communities in the world.
Slide 5: Variations on the word « Ethics » « Ethos » in Greek: custom, habit, way of behaving in an environment The primary meaning of «Ethos» or «Ethics»* has therefore to do with: making your way, positioning yourself in an environment Ethics is a human activity. — Recently Uploaded Slideshows
In fact this custom was abolished in the 5th reign (mid nineteenth century) but seems to have crept back. — Recently Uploaded Slideshows
(Following Latin American custom, his last name is actually "Moulitsas", not "Zúniga".) — VivirLatino
Marie bore all this; and I could see when I got to know her that she thought it quite right and fitting, considering herself the lowest and meanest of creatures When the old woman took to her bed finally, the other old women in the village sat with her by turns, as the custom is there; and then Marie was quite driven out of the house. — The Idiot

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tradition · habit · practice · law · institution · usage · standard · service · culture · ceremony

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English custume, from Old French costume, from Latin cōnsuētūdō, cōnsuētūdin-, from cōnsuētus, past participle of cōnsuēscere, to accustom : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + suēscere, to become accustomed; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (2)

from Middle English custom, custome, custum, custume, costume, costome, from Old French costume, custume, custome, coustume, French coutume = Provencal costuma = Spanish costumbre = Portuguese costume = Italian costuma (later F. also costume, later English costume, q. v.), custom, etc., from Middle Latin custuma, costuma, custom, etc., a contraction and modification (as if through a form *consuetumen, plural -tumina) of Latin consuetudo (consuetudin-), custom, habit (see consuetude later , from consuescere, past participle consuetus, accustom, inchoative form of consuere, be accustomed, from con- (intensive) + suere, be accustomed, perhaps from suus, one's own, his own: see consuetude.
from Middle English customen, from Old French costumer, coustumer, custumer, accustom, from costume, custume, custom: see custom, n., and cf. accustom, of which custom, v., is in part an abbreviated form.

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/ˈkəstəm/

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