Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

3 VERB If someone uses drugs, they take drugs regularly, especially illegal ones. □ [V n] He denied he had used drugs.

4 VERB You can say that someone uses the toilet or bathroom as a polite way of saying that they go to the toilet. [POLITENESS ] □ [V n] Wash your hands after using the toilet. □ [V n] He asked whether he could use my bathroom.

5 VERB If you use a particular word or expression, you say or write it, because it has the meaning that you want to express. □ [V n] The judge liked using the word 'wicked' of people he had sent to jail.

6 VERB If you use a particular name, you call yourself by that name, especially when it is not the name that you usually call yourself. □ [V n] Now I use a false name if I'm meeting people for the first time.

7 VERB If you say that someone uses people, you disapprove of them because they make others do things for them in order to benefit or gain some advantage from it, and not because they care about the other people. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ [V n] Be careful she's not just using you. □ [be V -ed] Why do I have the feeling I'm being used again?

8 → see also used ➊

➋ use ◆◆◇ /juː s/ (uses )

1 N‑UNCOUNT [oft a N ] Your use of something is the action or fact of your using it. □ [+ of ] The treatment does not involve the use of any artificial drugs. □  …research related to microcomputers and their use in classrooms. □ [+ of ] We are denied use of the land by the ruling classes. □ [+ of ] He would support a use of force if the U.N. deemed it necessary.

2 N‑SING If you have a use for something, you need it or can find something to do with it. □ [+ for ] You will no longer have a use for the magazines. □ [+ for ] They both loved the fabric, but couldn't find a use for it.

3 N‑VAR [oft adj N ] If something has a particular use , it is intended for a particular purpose. □  Infrared detectors have many uses. □  It's an interesting scientific phenomenon, but of no practical use whatever. □  French furniture was designed for every use. □ [+ for ] The report outlined possible uses for the new weapon. □ [+ as ] …elderflower water for use as an eye and skin lotion. □ [+ of ] We need to recognize that certain uses of the land upon which we live are simply wrong. [Also + in ]

4 N‑UNCOUNT [oft the N ] If you have the use of something, you have the permission or ability to use it. □ [+ of ] She will have the use of the car one night a week. □ [+ of ] …young people who at some point in the past have lost the use of their limbs. □ [+ of ] You will have full use of all the new leisure club facilities.

5 N‑COUNT A use of a word is a particular meaning that it has or a particular way in which it can be used. □ [+ of ] There are new uses of words coming in and old uses dying out.

6 N‑UNCOUNT Your use of a particular name is the fact of your calling yourself by it. □ [+ of ] Police have been hampered by Mr Urquhart's use of bogus names.

7 PHRASE If something is for the use of a particular person or group of people, it is for that person or group to use. □  The leisure facilities are there for the use of guests. □  He raises crops mainly for the use of his family.

8 PHRASE If you say that being something or knowing someone has its uses , you mean that it makes it possible for you to do what you otherwise would not be able to do. [INFORMAL ] □  Being a hospital Sister had its uses.