non-utilityn.adj.

1775 J. Rymer Sentiments on Reviewers iii, in Descr. Island of Nevis 43 Geniuses..in science and literature..are the nourishers, the supporters, the instigators, the discoverers of all utility, purity, impurity and non-utility in human knowledge.

1826 G. S. Faber Diffic. Romanism i. ii. 24 The obligation or non-obligation of an oath is made, by the third Council of Lateran, to depend solely upon its utility or non-utility to the interests of the church.

1850 Zanesville (Ohio) Courier 29 June 2/4 If he had given any reason to sustain this declaration, with regard to the non-utility of our remarks, we would attend to it.

1894 Philos. Trans. 1893 (Royal Soc.) B. 184 306 The non-utility of the air-bladder as a hydrostatic organ in several of these Siluroids is very obvious from its extremely small size.

1960 S. W. Mintz Worker in Cane viii. 268 They come to perceive the nonutility of their old ways, cast about for new ways that fit life better.

1995 W. Doreski Mod. Voice Amer. Poetry iii. 75 The very failure of the butterfly to compete as a viable trope of beauty, randomness, and nonutility illustrates how limited..is the steamroller-person.

1913 W. J. Norton Illinois Public Utility Comm. Law & Munic. Ownership Law 32 Commission's determination of necessity for regulation of non-utility business shall be prima facie evidence of fact in any appeal.

1929 Columbia Law Rev. 29 422 Will the passing of control of this operating public utility into the hands of a foreign non-utility corporation strip the commission of effective regulatory control of this public utility?

1950 Engineering 6 Jan. 11/3 ‘Nonutility generation’ is defined as ‘generation by producers..for the purpose of supplying electric power required in the conduct of their industrial or commercial operations’.

1973 N.Y. Times 12 Jan. 43/1 Commissioners..held it to be inconsistent with the law to permit non-utility activities not related to or ‘complementary in a significant way’ to the utility business.

1989 Coal (Nexis) Apr. 47 Non-utility generators—a broad class of privately owned and operated electric generation facilities.

1999 Fuel Cell Technol. News (Electronic ed.) 1 Feb. The act established a class of nonutility generators comprised of small power producers and cogenerators, and required utilities to buy electricity from these.

1948 News Chron. 7 Apr. 1 Non-utility tables, desks, chairs.

1957 R. Campbell Portugal 82 In Portugal there are still the regional dresses of the people (strictly non-utility).

1960 I. Jefferies Dignity & Purity iv. 55 My suits happened to be new and very non-utility.

1990 Econ. Hist. Rev. 43 74 Companies were prevented from increasing their profit margins on non-utility cloth.