2. Judicial or penal safe- keeping.
Jailer, take him to thy custody.
Shak.
3. State of being guarded and watched to prevent escape; restraint of liberty; confinement; imprisonment.
What pease will be given
To us enslaved, but custody severe,
And stripes and arbitrary punishment?
Milton.
Custom
(Cus"tom) n. [OF. custume, costume, Anglo-Norman coustome, F. coutume, fr. (assumed)
LL. consuetumen custom, habit, fr. L. consuetudo, - dinis, fr. consuescere to accustom, verb inchoative
fr. consuere to be accustomed; con- + suere to be accustomed, prob. originally, to make one's own, fr.
the root of suus one's own; akin to E. so, adv. Cf. Consuetude, Costume.]
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.
Acts xvi. 21.
Moved beyond his custom, Gama said.
Tennyson.
A custom
More honored in the breach than the observance.
Shak.
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.
Addison.
3. (Law) Long-established practice, considered as unwritten law, and resting for authority on long consent; usage.
See Usage, and Prescription.
Usage is a fact. Custom is a law. There can be no custom without usage, though there may be usage
without custom. Wharton.
4. Familiar aquaintance; familiarity. [Obs.]
Age can not wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety.
Shak.
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.
Syn. — Practice; fashion. See Habit, and Usage.
Custom
(Cus"tom), v. t. [Cf. OF. costumer. Cf. Accustom.]
1. To make familiar; to accustom. [Obs.] Gray.
2. To supply with customers. [Obs.] Bacon.
Custom
(Cus"tom), v. i. To have a custom. [Obs.]
On a bridge he custometh to fight.
Spenser.
Custom
(Cus"tom), n. [OF. coustume, F. coutume, tax, i. e., the usual tax. See 1st Custom.]
