CUSTOM • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • 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

... a particular favorite with the Master of Life. In an evil hour he partook of the white-man's fire-water, and in a fighting broil unfortunately took the life of a brother chief. According to ancient custom blood was demanded for blood, and when next the Master Bear went forth to hunt, he was waylaid, shot through the heart with an arrow, and his body deposited in front of his widow's lodge. Bitterly did the woman bewail her misfortune, now mutilating ...

— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 5. May 1848 • Various

... one faculty, composed of all the instructors. It varies in number and efficiency according to the number of students and financial resources of the college. The proportionate number of professors to the students follows the custom of the best English and German universities, which usually is one professor for every twenty or thirty students. The Dean is an administrative officer of a department in a university, and is concerned with the internal ...

— Colleges in America • John Marshall Barker

... the most difficult sound to focus and should never be used for initial practice. Much valuable time has been lost by the custom of using this sound at first. It ...

— Resonance in Singing and Speaking • Thomas Fillebrown

... the twenty-six looms. The factory hands for the most part came down from the Green mountain regions, glad of an opportunity never before enjoyed of earning wages and supporting themselves. They were girls of respectability, and, as was the custom then, boarded with the families of the mill-owners. Those of the Anthony factory were divided between the wife and Hannah Anthony Hoxie, a married sister. Lucy Anthony soon became acquainted with the stern realities of life. Her third baby was born when the first was three ...

— The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2) • Ida Husted Harper

... his spirit is not ignoble. To him it may not be given "to fan and winnow from the coming step of Time the chaff of custom;" but if he persevere he may confidently hope that his thought and love shall at length rise to fairer and more enduring worlds. He weds himself to things of light, seeks aids to true life within, learns to live with the noble dead, and with the great souls of the present who ...

— Education and the Higher Life • J. L. Spalding

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