"to use" = "to do" in the 18th century?

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Sun Feb 10 20:58:54 UTC 2013


Charlie, can you put your rephrasing into the complete sentence?  I'm
not following you.

Joel

At 2/10/2013 02:53 PM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>Isn't that phrasing just elliptical for "for ever uses [to do], as
>they do who"?  "Uses [to]" as the present-tense of the current
>pseudo-modal-auxiliary "used to":  'customarily, commonly'.
>
>Charlie
>
>________________________________________
>From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>Joel S. Berson [Berson at ATT.NET]
>Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2013 12:41 PM
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>In the following context, is "for ever uses, as they do who" to be
>understood as ""always does (practices, acts) as those do who"?
>
>"Our Author in this Paper, and in every Thing published by him
>relating to this, or any other Distemper, for ever uses, as they do
>who make Venice Treacle."
>
>Joel
>
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