First appeared in the 16th century as a general synonym of abuse, but fell into disuse after just a couple of centuries. The word re-emerged with a new grammar-specific sense after Eric Partridge published a book on grammar titled Usage and Abusage: A Guide to Good English (a pun on "use and abuse") in 1942.
abusage (countable and uncountable, plural abusages)
(obsolete) Abuse. [Attested from the mid 16th century until the mid 17th century.]
Improper or incorrect use of language. [First attested in the mid 20th century.]
Source: Wiktionary
A*bus"age, n.
Definition: Abuse. [Obs.] Whately (1634).
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 February 2025
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
