abuse

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abuse of distress

The wrongful or unlawful use or sale of property that has been seized in order to force payment or the performance of some contractual obligation (known in law as the process of distress or distrain). It was a clear case of abuse of distress: the landlord, without a court order, changed the locks on the door and then seized and sold the tenants' belongings only an hour after serving them a notice of eviction.
See also: abuse, distress, of

abuse of privileges

The wrongful or unlawful misuse of power in one's duties, either at the expense of others or to the advantage of the abuser. The governor displayed a flagrant abuse of privileges, channeling state funds toward a project owned by her son-in-law at the expense of more worthwhile causes. The moderator was deemed to have committed an abuse of privileges, deleting comments that opposed his own.
See also: abuse, of, privilege

be wide open to (something)

To be a likely target of anger, criticism, or judgment. You will be wide open to discipline if you keep coming into work late. Because I'm an artist and all of my siblings are doctors, I'm always wide open to criticism at family functions.
See also: open, wide

abuse oneself

To masturbate.
See also: abuse
References in periodicals archive ?
Three months later, Crowell wrote in court documents that Jensen was alienating her daughter from her father by telling her daughter that he had abused her and by making repeated reports of abuse to child protection and law enforcement officials.
MOM TERMED `PARENTAL ALIENATOR' WINS RARE VINDICATION IN COURTS
Just how harmful are the most abused prescription drugs?
Prescription drugs: their use and abuse
7 times more likely to be abused than children without disabilities.
Childhood sexual abuse: what rehabilitation counselors need to know
Research is needed to characterize the nature and extent of the inhalant abuse for different classes of abused inhalants in relevant population subgroups.
Inhalant abuse: supporting broad-based research approaches
They continuously enter into abusive relationships and are used, abused, and exploited by others.
The Educator's Role In Reporting the Emotional Abuse of Children
For the last few years, former attendees of residential schools have been coming forward in droves, claiming they were physically, sexually and mentally abused while students at these mostly remote schools that operated in Canada for more than a century.
Sins of the fathers: the legacy of Indian residential schools is one of physical and emotional scars, nasty lawsuits, a questionable medical study, and suicide
In a 1991 survey by Independent Living Centers, 10% of respondents reported physical abuse by paid caregivers; 40% of them reported theft and 25% of those who were abused said they didn't report it for fear of retaliatian.
Abuse happens
Mitchell says she left home because her abused her mentally and physically and used drugs.
Stay at home, moms
However, I'm seeing hoards of people who are being abused, not merely reprimanded or criticized.
Management's latest worry: nonsexual harassment
She claims to have been physically and psychologically abused, raped repeatedly (both by adult men and by women using such objects as branches and crucifixes), and forced to consume flesh and blood from human sacrifices.
All the babies you can eat
It was not felt that enough was known to undertake a piece of primary research on either the abused or abusers.
Review: abuse of elderly people in the domestic setting: a UK perspective
Tragically, it is estimated that 150,000 to 200,000 seniors are financially abused in California each year, and the National Center on Elder Abuse estimates that there may be 5 million victims a year, nationally.
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Honored With Release of Training Tools for Recognizing and Reporting Elder Financial Abuse
Infants born to women in the physical-abuse group were at greater risk for death than were those born to women who had not been abused (2% vs.
For pregnant women, silence on domestic violence speaks loudly
Being abused as an infant outweighs any primarily genetic trait, such as an anxious temperament, in fostering abusive parenting by female monkeys, says primatologist Dario Maestripieri of the University of Chicago.
Mother knows worst: abusive parenting spans generations in monkeys
Antonovich ordered staffers to report why the Department of Children and Family Services failed to investigate three separate reports that Desarie Saravia was being abused.
SUPERVISORS WANT INQUIRY IN GIRL'S DEATH
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