See Also: Usury(money)
usury(dictionary)
usury(encyclopedia)
usury(dictionary)
Usury laws(money)
Usury laws(finance)

hamstring (iou) and usury (oh)


hamstring (iou)



hamstring noun & verb. M16.
[from HAM noun1 + STRING noun.]
A. noun. In humans, apes, etc., each of the five tendons at the back of the knee; in quadrupeds, the great tendon at the back of the hock. M16.
B. verb trans. Pa. t. & pple -strung , (now rare) -stringed. Lame or disable (a person or animal) by cutting the hamstrings; fig. destroy the activity or Efficiency of. M17.
T. H. White They were crawling along the roads on hands and knees, because they had been hamstrung. A. Storr I know of no creative person who was more hamstrung by his inability to write.

usury (oh)



[Date: 1300-1400; Language: Medieval Latin; Origin: usuria, from Latin usura 'use, interest', from usus; USE1]
formal old-fashioned the practice of lending money to people and making them pay interest 1(4)
::In medieval times, it was illegal for Christians to practise usury.