\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.