Syn. — Practice; mode; manner; way; custom; fashion. — Habit, Custom. Habit is a disposition or tendency
leading us to do easily, naturally, and with growing certainty, what we do often; custom is external, being
habitual use or the frequent repetition of the same act. The two operate reciprocally on each other. The
custom of giving produces a habit of liberality; habits of devotion promote the custom of going to church.
Custom also supposes an act of the will, selecting given modes of procedure; habit is a law of our being,
a kind of "second nature" which grows up within us.
How use doth breed a habit in a man !
Shak.
He who reigns . . . upheld by old repute,
Consent, or custom.
Milton. Habit
(Hab"it) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Habited; p. pr. & vb. n. Habiting.] [OE. habiten to dwell, F. habiter,
fr. L. habitare to have frequently, to dwell, intens. fr. habere to have. See Habit, n.]
1. To inhabit. [Obs.]
In thilke places as they [birds] habiten.
Rom. of R. 2. To dress; to clothe; to array.
They habited themselves like those rural deities.
Dryden. 3. To accustom; to habituate. [Obs.] Chapman.
Habitability
(Hab`it*a*bil"i*ty) (- a*bil"i*ty), n. Habitableness.
Habitable
(Hab"it*a*ble) a. [F. habitable, L. habitabilis.] Capable of being inhabited; that may be inhabited
or dwelt in; as, the habitable world. — Hab"it*a*ble*ness, n. — Hab"it*a*bly, adv.
Habitacle
(Hab"it*a*cle) n. [F. habitacle dwelling place, binnacle, L. habitaculum dwelling place. See
Binnacle, Habit, v.] A dwelling place. Chaucer. Southey.
Habitan
(Ha`bi`tan") n. Same as Habitant, 2.
General Arnold met an emissary . . . sent . . . to ascertain the feelings of the habitans or French
yeomanry.
W. Irwing. Habitance
(Hab"it*ance) n. [OF. habitance, LL. habitantia.] Dwelling; abode; residence. [Obs.] Spenser.
Habitancy
(Hab"it*an*cy) n. Same as Inhabitancy.
Habitant
(Hab"it*ant) n. [F. habitant. See Habit, v. t.]
1. An inhabitant; a dweller. Milton. Pope.
2. [F. pron. a`be`tä⊁"] An inhabitant or resident; — a name applied to and denoting farmers of French
descent or origin in Canada, especially in the Province of Quebec; — usually in the plural.
The habitants or cultivators of the soil.
Parkman. Habitat
(Hab"i*tat) n. [L., it dwells, fr. habitare. See Habit, v. t.]
1. (Biol.) The natural abode, locality or region of an animal or plant.
2. Place where anything is commonly found.
This word has its habitat in Oxfordshire.
Earle.