CUSTOM • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Custom

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/kˈəstəm/ Listen

noun

Custom n.

1.

Frequent repetition of the same act; way of acting common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; usage; method of doing or living. "And teach customs which are not lawful." "Moved beyond his custom, Gama said." "A custom More honored in the breach than the observance."

2.

Habitual buying of goods; practice of frequenting, as a shop, manufactory, etc., for making purchases or giving orders; business support. "Let him have your custom, but not your votes."

3.

(Law) Long-established practice, considered as unwritten law, and resting for authority on long consent; usage. See Usage, and Prescription. Note: Usage is a fact. Custom is a law. There can be no custom without usage, though there may be usage without custom.

4.

Familiar aquaintance; familiarity. (Obs.) "Age can not wither her, nor custom stale Her infinite variety."

Custom of merchants, a system or code of customs by which affairs of commerce are regulated.

General customs, those which extend over a state or kingdom.

Particular customs, those which are limited to a city or district; as, the customs of London.

Synonyms: Practice; fashion. See Habit, and Usage.

Custom n.

1.

The customary toll, tax, or tribute. "Render, therefore, to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom."

2.

pl. Duties or tolls imposed by law on commodities, imported or exported.

verb

Custom v. t.

1.

To make familiar; to accustom. (Obs.)

2.

To supply with customers. (Obs.)

Custom v. t. To pay the customs of. (Obs.)

Custom v. i. To have a custom. (Obs.) "On a bridge he custometh to fight."

See images of 'Custom'

Etymology of 'Custom'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Custom" Quotes from Famous Books

... can tell nowadays? But you will know when some day she is fined five dollars. In my time if a man doubted his wife, the club fell swiftly, or the spear was sped, and she was dead. And, because of this custom, wives in those days were careful. Now, they care not, and are fined five dollars many times. And the husband hath to pay the fine!" He laughed in his noiseless way, and then puffed at his pipe. "And if he cannot pay, then he and his wife, and the man who hath wronged him, work together ...

— Pakia - 1901 • Louis Becke

... sotto voce murmurings of men in his vicinity. They were men who had joined the new revolt and had stood bravely enough for a change in county political managers. But these men revealed that they were timorous about altering long party custom. They said, one to another, that it would be going too far to refuse renomination to Governor Harwood. It might split their party so widely that the rival political party would be able to carry the ...

— The Landloper - The Romance Of A Man On Foot • Holman Day

... whim of your maid's, for at that time you had no right to the title of Lady; but she said you would soon have, and that she should call you so now, that she might be used to it; and, from her continually calling you so, it by degrees became a general custom, not only with our own family, but also ...

— Forgotten Tales of Long Ago • E. V. Lucas

... the Crown. This is in accordance with the immemorial custom of this realm. In these days, the Prime Minister (representing the people) proposes the name of a Priest to the King, who accepts or rejects the recommendation. If he accepts it, the King nominates the selected ...

— The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments • E. E. Holmes

... deceived in the length to which heads of offices, those true liberty-haters, can go,—they are the tyrants, not Ferdinand, nor Nero. By a decree passed this week, they have abridged us of the immemorially observed custom of going at one o'clock of a Saturday,—the little shadow of a holiday left us. Dear W.W., be ...

— The Best Letters of Charles Lamb • Charles Lamb

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