usefuladj.n.
/ˈjuːsf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˈjusf(ə)l/ A. adj.
1.
a. Of things, actions, practices, etc.: capable of being put to good use; suitable for use; advantageous, profitable, beneficial.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > [adjective]
bricheeOE
behovelyc950
bihevec975
nutOE
behovingc1175
behovesomec1330
noteful1372
helpfulc1384
serviceablea1393
nait?a1425
meet?a1439
steadable1467
opportunea1475
utile?1483
of service1559
good1577
deservient1578
steadful1585
useful1596
servient1606
handy1616
utible1623
utilious1652
lucky1703
functional1808
utility1895
eufunctional1963
1596 L. Keymis 2nd Voy. Guiana in R. Hakluyt Principal Nauigations (1599) III. 680 By generall consent (though hatchets and kniues bee the onely things of request and vsefull vnto them) they hane agreed by no meanes to trade with the Spaniard for any thing.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iv. xv. 80 With a wound I must be cur'd. Draw that thy honest Sword, which thou hast worne Most vsefull for thy Country. View more context for this quotation
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 183 Food no lesse pleasant and vsefull to Kine.
1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 4 The usefullest points of grammar.
1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. ii. x. 76 How to make a most useful Instrument of the Stars.
1685 Bk. Pretty Conceits To Rdr. sig. A1 v Amongst serious and useful Experiments that I have inserted, there are pleasant Conceits.
c1737 J. Swift Corr. (1913) V. 435 I cannot doubt of your being willing to encourage all useful inventions.
1752 D. Hume Polit. Disc. iv. 67 Every thing useful to the life of man, arises from the ground.
1780 Mirror No. 80 They..publish useful information to mankind.
1819 Metropolis (ed. 2) I. 133 It may be an useful lesson to yourself and to others who play the love-game at piquet.
1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. I. 197/2 We are not always to consider in our disquisitions what is pleasantest, but sometimes what is usefullest.
1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues IV. 309 Exercises..useful both in peace and war.
1916 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 5 June 6/4 Many useful medicines are still made from common herbs.
1946 J. T. Adams Album Amer. Hist. III. 261 Hay Burning Stoves were useful in this prairie country.
1970 P. Berton National Dream vi. ii. 229 It was more than merely useful to have a friend in high places; for a contractor it was virtually mandatory.
2004 H. Blumenthal Family Food 24 This is a meshed spoon or spatula which is very useful for taking things like pasta and vegetables out of hot water.
b. Of a woman's dress; practical, plain, simple; suitable for a variety of occasions, versatile.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > clothing for body or trunk (and limbs) > [adjective] > dress, robe, or gown
rumped1601
princess1866
princess cut1875
useful1879
bedgowny1885
vestless1888
sack-back1913
Winterhalter1913
sun top1937
culotte1966
1879 Bucks County (Pa.) Gaz. 23 Jan. 1/2 The captain..commenced to fashion a garment, which when completed resembled the useful dress of a Sister of Charity.
1913 La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune 11 Sept. 8/4 Silk..is not over-elaborate for simple afternoon frocks and..is found available for the practical, useful dress and the party frock of occasional service.
1963 Observer 3 Nov. 33/1 In the dress trade, ‘a useful little dress’ means one with no distinguishing characteristics; ‘romantic’ means ‘cleft to the waist’.
1968 M. Jones Survivor i. 22 The dinner was arranged... She had dressed with restraint in a ‘useful’ black dress.
2004 Daily Mail (Nexis) 6 Dec. It's a very useful dress—it can be worn for any occasion, whether smart or casual.
2.
a. Of persons: having the ability or qualities to bring about good, advantage, or benefit; of use for some purpose; serviceable, helpful. Also of animals (cf. sense A. 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > [adjective] > specifically of person
helpfulc1384
necessary1425
serviceable1583
useful1612
1612 Bp. J. Hall Contempl. I. iv. 330 He can turne him into a sencelesse sticke, and make him if not vsefull, yet fearelesse.
1646 F. P. Verney & M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family 17th Cent. (1907) I. 343 Women were never soe usefull as now.
1671 J. Milton Samson Agonistes 564 Now blind, disheartn'd,..quell'd, To what can I be useful . View more context for this quotation
?a1700 Tak your Auld Cloak about ye ii, in Ramsay Evergreen My Cromie is a useful cow.
1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 5 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) Especially when such an Adventure is so useful to the Publick.
1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. ii. 41 If he had any opportunity of making himself either useful or agreeable.
1831 J. Sinclair Corr. II. 349 Baron Itzenplitz..wishes [to see] his children..useful for their country.
1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Market Harborough ix Very like hunters: remarkably useful horses indeed!
1887 J. Ruskin Præterita II. xii. 422 [He] was benevolently useful, as a landlord should be, in his county.
1928 Times 30 Aug. 8/4 It appears to be impossible to get a hold of a useful rabbit-chasing ferret, for love or money.
1955 Bull. Atomic Scientists Mar. 84/2 We have useful men denied the opportunity to contribute to our scientific efforts because of their youthful indiscretions.
2002 Dalesman Jan. 31/1 As daughter Jo moves at, let's say, a very steady speed, she is far more useful staying in bed asleep.
b. Australian colloquial. With generally. Applied to an odd-job person: employed to undertake general labour. Cf. sense B. 3. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > domestic servant > [adjective] > relating to servant doing odd jobs
useful1866
1866 R. Henning Let. 16 May (1966) 219 There are three men employed about the place [sc. a logging business]. The bullock-driver, the punt-man and a ‘generally useful’ man.
1900 H. Lawson Middleton's Peter in Stories (1964) 1st Ser. 293 There were two rooms..attached to the stables. One was occupied by a man who was ‘generally useful’.
1905 Bulletin 3 Aug. 17/2 A station-hand is a ‘pound-a-week’ man, supposed to be generally useful.
3.
a. Theatre. Of an actor: effective or competent; spec. capable of acting in a range of minor roles or bit parts.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [adjective] > types of performance
useful1740
unrehearsed1789
rehearsed1821
marionettish1873
non-stop1932
live1933
watchable1933
improv1953
under-rehearsed1963
impro1979
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performer > [adjective] > type of performer
useful1740
supporting1863
speciality1873
quick change1882
featured1897
non-speaking1959
bankable1964
off-Broadway1971
1740 C. Cibber Apol. Life C. Cibber vii. 152 The briskest loose Liver, or intemperate Man..can never arrive at the necessary Excellencies of a good or useful actor.
1797 ‘A. Pasquin’ Pin-basket to Children of Thespis 120 He was..a most useful actor, and will be missed for some time.
1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller II. ii. 50 I was enrolled among the number of what are called useful men; those who enact soldiers, senators, and Banquo's shadowy line.
1902 F. Graham Histrionic Montreal (ed. 2) 91 He became a useful actor of limited range.
1988 G. Smith Brief Career Eliza Poe iv. 40 He was consistently cast in the dull but necessary parts of any repertory that are inevitably the lot of useful actors.
b. Of a sportsman, racehorse, etc., or their performance: effective, successful; good, decent.
ΚΠ
1874 G. H. West Rugby Union Football Ann. 66 A light and very useful forward, especially in a loose scrummage.
1909 Times 11 Mar. 18/4 Captain Bond is a most useful double player... He hardly made a mistake at a single easy ball.
1955 Amer. Speech 30 23 A horse with a seemingly excellent racing background will be described as good; and a horse the record of which..would seem good will be described as useful.
1959 Listener 23 July 129/1 He..played a useful game of cricket..with a local league side.
1971 N. Stacey Who Cares? i. 19 I had been a useful school sportsman and got into the first eleven at most sports at Dartmouth.
2008 Racing Post (Nexis) 10 June 98 They've got one or two useful players, but we're never going to see them at the business end of a major [football] tournament.
B. n.
1. With the. That which is useful; the useful part of something.
ΚΠ
1635 F. Quarles Emblemes ii. vii. 89 All things are mixt; the usefull with the vaine.
1676 T. Garencières Admirable Virtues Coral 29 In the preparation of the Remedies, the pure is separated from the impure, the useful from the unprofitable.
1757 Monthly Rev. Dec. 604 The useful is blended throughout with the agreeable.
1802 C. Findlater Gen. View Agric. County of Peebles 55 Admirers of the curious, as much as of the useful, in farming.
1818 J. Foster Contrib. Eclectic Rev. (1844) I. 482 The useful was to him the summum bonum.
1892 I. Zangwill Big Bow Myst. 157 A man who has always preached the Useful day and night.
1955 S. Spender Making of Poem i. 16 Architecture..expresses the tension of the aesthetic against the useful.
1999 Newsweek 11 Oct. 74/2 It becomes difficult to tell the useful from the worthless, or even the true from the false.
2. In plural. Useful articles or things.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > [noun] > useful thing
beautya1425
utility?1483
card?1562
usefuls1649
utile1685
practicality1845
1649 Rectifying Princs. (title page) About the power and soveraignty of kingdoms. And other usefuls thereto appertaining.
1662 W. Petty Treat. Taxes 21 Metals, cloth, linen, leather, and other usefuls.
1725 E. Strother Ess. Sickness & Health iii. 260 It fares with Riding as with the whole Series of other Usefuls..their Encomiums are pegg'd too high by their Admirers.
1829 T. Hudson Comic Songs X. 35 Of usefuls not to stint, A tinder box and flint.
1887 M. A. Livermore My Story of War (1896) iv. 140 A ‘comfort-bag’ usually contained a small needle-book,..a well filled pin-ball,..thread, buttons, etc. These ‘little usefuls’, as the boys called them, were invaluable to the handy fellows.
1917 C. Morley Parnassus on Wheels (1919) ii. 20 Above the stove was a neat little row of pots and dishes and cooking usefuls.
2001 Canberra Times (Nexis) 29 Oct. 17 Other usefuls are a mute button, volume control, log off and sleep.
3. Australian colloquial. An odd-job person; a person employed to undertake general labour.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > servant > personal or domestic servant > domestic servant > [noun] > servant who lives out > servant doing odd jobs
odd man1743
chore-girl18..
chore-boy1848
odd-job man1859
odd-jobber1886
toti1886
wood-and-water joey1887
useful1891
1891 Bull. (Sydney) 4 Apr. 15/1 A ‘billiard-marker and generally useful’, engaged by a Macalister River..hotel-keeper..proceeded to energetically scrub-brush the billiard-table with hot soap-and-water.
1935 K. Tennant Tiburon 37 Roman stepped out of the room next to the laundry of O'Brien's Hotel, where he was barman, yardman and general useful.
1963 J. Fountain in ‘B. James’ Austral. Short Stories 277 Every boy..knew the..circumstances of..Maggie's affair with the useful from the hotel.
2001 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 5 July 11 The number of unemployable graphic designers graduating each year and becoming bar usefuls is a minor tragedy.
Phrases
P1. to come in useful: see to come in 16b at come v. Phrasal verbs 1.
P2. to make oneself useful: to do something that is of some value or benefit to others; to occupy oneself in a productive manner. Frequently with to.
ΚΠ
1660 S. Clarke Lives Two & Twenty Eng. Divines 33 He..made himself nothing so usefull to others.
1698 C. Davenant Disc. Publick Revenues I. i. 10 He that would furnish himself with such Skill in Foreign Affairs, as may make himself useful at Home, must begin with an Inquiry into the Condition of his own Country.
1709 D. Manley Secret Mem. 198 That to be well receiv'd, it is indubitably necessary to make our selves useful to those we would recommend our selves to.
1824 Times 14 June 1/3 (advt.) He..can make himself useful in the upholstering and French polishing.
1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene II. ii. 166 I returned to the quarter-deck, and made myself as useful as I could.
1864 Student & Schoolmate Jan. 3 The rope was only half manned and wishing to make myself useful..I joined the party in charge of the ‘tub’.
1921 T. S. Eliot Let. 1 Jan. in V. Eliot Lett. T. S. Eliot I. (1988) 430 If you had some one over here who could fly about, I might be able to make myself useful to him.
1951 G. Heyer Quiet Gentleman xx. 307 You may now, and for the first time today, make yourself useful, and take my horse to the stables!
1996 A. Ghosh Calcutta Chromosome (1997) xxxix. 280 He made himself useful to the railways and they let him stay.
2004 New Yorker 14 June 90/3 We would be translating for them and handing them elevators and forceps and generally making ourselves useful.
Compounds
useful arts n. now chiefly historical = industrial arts n. at industrial adj. and n. Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre v. xxx. 283 As there is gold amongst the Turks there will be drosse amongst the Christians, I mean some who for base gain will betray the mysteries of our usefull arts unto them.
1787 E. A. W. von Zimmermann Polit. Surv. Europe Pref. iii A new branch of scientific knowledge, viz. technology, or the theory and accurate description of useful arts and manufactures, was much cultivated in Germany.
1863 W. H. Brewer Let. 13 Aug. in Up & down Calif. (2003) 430 The Morrill Land Fund, donated by Congress to schools for the advancement of agriculture and the useful arts.
1991 Jrnl. Design Hist. 4 220/2 Unlike some continental academies in the eighteenth century.., the Royal Academy was not interested in the useful arts, and was indeed even hostile towards them.
useful idiot n. derogatory (chiefly Politics) (originally) a citizen of a non-communist country sympathetic to communism who is regarded (by communists) as naive and susceptible to manipulation for propaganda or other purposes; (more widely) any person similarly manipulable for political purposes. [The phrase does not seem to reflect any expression used within the Soviet Union.]
ΚΠ
1948 N.Y. Times 21 June 14 L'Umanita said the Communists would give the ‘useful idiots’ of the left-wing Socialist party the choice of merging with the Communist party or getting out.
1985 Washington Post (Nexis) 21 Apr. h2 Biddle is an unwitting traitor to his country, one of those liberals aptly described by the KGB as 'useful idiots'.
2003 Ethnology 42 97 The pan was condemned for recklessly politicizing the conflict, making use of Tetiz's mayor..as a ‘useful idiot’ for partisan interests.
useful life n. the (expected) period of time in which a device, vehicle, structure, etc., is productive or in use; cf. use-life n. at use n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > [noun] > repeated or continuous use > ability to last in use
useful life1848
use-life1937
pot life1945
1848 J. Sanders in Message from President of U.S. 732 It would be unsafe to charter one older than two years, which is about one-half of the useful life of a boat.
1931 Oil & Gaz Jrnl. 8 Jan. 26/1 There would apparently be nothing to do but to abandon these old strippers as having exceeded their useful life.
2002 E. McLaney & P. Atrill Accounting (rev. ed.) Gloss. 570 Straight-line method, a method of accounting for depreciation that allocates the amount to be depreciated evenly over the useful life of the asset.
useful lift n. chiefly Aeronautics the proportion of the lift (lift n.2 5e(a)) acting on an aircraft or other flying body which exceeds the weight of that body and so causes it to rise.
ΚΠ
1917 C. C. Turner Aircraft of To-day xx. 280 The limit of aeroplane possibilities at present in view is summed up in a useful lift of about five tons.
1928 C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station 10 She was warped into her shed for some alterations because she was found to be deficient in ‘useful’ lift.
1997 BioScience 47 223 (caption) At higher speeds, the bird can use the tail to generate useful lift (e.g., during a turn), but this increases drag.
2007 New Scientist 8 Sept. 41/2 100 kilometres up..aeroplanes don't work any more, because they would have to travel so fast to get useful lift from the tenuous atmosphere that they would effectively orbit the Earth.
useful load n. now chiefly Aeronautics the load carried by a vehicle (now esp. an aircraft) in addition to its own weight.
ΚΠ
1832 N. Wood Pract. Treat. Rail-roads (ed. 2) 377 The load assigned to this engine, in order to place it on the same footing as the others, should be the same proportion of useful load, compared with the weight of the engine.
1914 Sphere 7 Mar. 298/2 The most remarkable of the new aeroplanes is the Sikorsky... It can carry a useful load of over a ton.
1978 D. B. Thurston Design for Flying ix. 112 If the airplane is intended for the..private market, thin skin could be used and the weight saved converted to useful load.
2008 Times (Nexis) 15 Apr. 58 With a useful load of half a ton it carried the biggest weight of instruments of any satellite yet launched.
useful weight n. now chiefly Aeronautics = useful load n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > air or space travel > a means of conveyance through the air > aeroplane > qualities and parameters of aircraft > [noun] > difference between laden and unladen weight
useful weight1825
1825 Mechanics' Mag. 3 312/2 Twelve waggons were placed on the rail-road, each containing two tons and between 13 and 14 hundred weight of coals, making a total useful weight of 32 tons and 8 cwt.
1909 A. Berget Conquest of Air ii. iv. 205 A ‘useful weight’ in the form of fuel and oil to the extent of 80 kilogrammes.
1987 Super Bike June 67/3 The use of wire wheels..probably also saves some useful weight.
2002 A. Lorber Misguided Weapons iv. 96 Compared with cargo aircraft or bombers, fighter aircraft are limited in the amount of useful weight they can carry.
Derivatives
ˈusefullish adj. rare fairly useful.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > [adjective] > somewhat
usefullish1848
1848 T. Carlyle Jrnl. 9 Feb. in J. A. Froude T. Carlyle: Life in London (1884) I. xv. 421 I seem to them a desperate half mad, if usefullish fireman.
1936 A. G. Street Gentleman of Party 156 'Bout a hundred and fifty acre, usefullish house, and four cottages.
2009 Coventry Evening Telegraph (Nexis) 20 Feb. 61 Other stories include a hunt for an ancient fossil and a race to invent a usefullish invention for a school project.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1596