use
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 508 U.S. 223 - Smith v. United States · 1993Most cited · 2,861 citing opinions
the same thing as to both, and surely the 1986 addition of "drug trafficking crime" would have been a peculiar way to expand its meaning (beyond "use as a weapon") for crimes of violence.
How the Supreme Court has restated “use”
Each Supreme Court definition of “use,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “use”
Court decisions citing the 6 opinions that defined “use” — 6,014 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 6 definitions, chronological · 1914–2025
- ORIGINAL
The word 'use,' as there employed, means more than the mere privilege of using which the owner enjoys, and relates to its primary signification, as defined by Webster: 'The act of employing anything or of applying it to one's service; the state of being so employed or applied.' ... use in the statutory sense, although it arises from ownership, is active (objective); that is, it is the outward and distinct exercise of a right which ownership confers, but which would not necessarily be exerted by the mere fact of ownership.
as distinguished from ownership
The crime of 'use' is complete when the passport so obtained is used willfully and knowingly.
passport statute
the intentional availment of force, which is not required under the Florida DUI statute.
the 'act of employing something' and does not require a purposeful or knowing state of mind." Ibid.
`[t]o convert to one's service,' `to employ,' `to avail oneself of,' and `to carry out a purpose or action by means of.' " Id., at 145 .