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  1. usury love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. The practice of lending money and charging the borrower interest, especially at an exorbitant or illegally high rate.
  2. n. An excessive or illegally high rate of interest charged on borrowed money.
  3. n. Archaic Interest charged or paid on a loan.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Originally, any premium paid, or stipulated to be paid, for the use of money; interest. [Obsolete or archaic.]
  2. n. An excessive or inordinate premium paid, or stipulated to be paid, for the use of money borrowed; any such premium in excess of the rate established or permitted by law, which varies locally.
  3. n. The practice of lending money at interest, or of taking interest for money lent; specifically, and now almost exclusively, the practice of taking exorbitant or excessive interest; the taking of extortionate interest from the needy or extravagant.

Wiktionary

  1. n. countable An exorbitant rate of interest, in excess of any legal rates or at least immorally.
  2. n. uncountable The practice of lending money at such rates.
  3. n. uncountable, archaic The practice of lending money at interest.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Obs. or Archaic A premium or increase paid, or stipulated to be paid, for a loan, as of money; interest.
  2. n. obsolete The practice of taking interest.
  3. n. (Law) Interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of money.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest
  2. n. the act of lending money at an exorbitant rate of interest

Etymologies

  1. From Latin usuria, from usura "lending at interest, usury" from usus 'use', from stem of uti 'to use' (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Medieval Latin ūsūria, alteration of Latin ūsūra, from ūsus, use; see usual. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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  • singlepayernow i applied online for a segway loan and got a an interest rate of 21.99% from GE! that's usurious! actually, the entire capitalistic economy and society is usurious! we live in an inane world! ahhhhhh!!!!!! chaos theory now! anarchy! Dec 16, 2007

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‘usury’ has been looked up 2783 times, loved by 4 people, added to 48 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 8.