Custom (kstm), n.
Etymology: [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, prosuus 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 beyong 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.
3 more senses
Note: 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.
4 other Webster entries under this spelling
Custom, v. t.
1. To make familiar; to accustom. [Obs.] Gray.
2. To supply with customers. [Obs.] Bacon.
Custom, v. i.
To have a custom. [Obs.] On a bridge he custometh to fight. Spenser.
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. Rom. xiii. 7.
2. pl.
Duties or tolls imposed by law on commodities, imported or exported.
Custom, v. t.
To pay the customs of. [Obs.] Marlowe.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for custom; he lists it under habit.
Where he writes about it:
Custom is the uniform doing of the same act in the same circumstance for a definite reason; routine is the doing of customary acts in a regular and uniform sequence and is more mechanical than custom. — from habit
It is the custom of tradesmen to open at a uniform hour, and to follow a regular routine of business until closing-time. — from habit
Custom is chiefly used of the action of many; habit of the action of one; we speak of the customs of society, the habits of an individual. — from habit
Fashion is the generally recognized custom in the smaller matters, especially in dress. — from habit
Practise is the active doing of something in a systematic way; we do not speak of the practise, but of the habit of going to sleep; we speak of a tradesman's custom, a lawyer's or a physician's practise. — from habit