Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - habit

~ n 1 »STH YOU DO REGULARLY« something that you do regularly, often without thinking about it because you have done it so many times before  (Dalton was a man of regular habits. | out of habit/from habit (=because it is a habit))  (After we moved I kept driving to the old house out of habit. | be in the habit of doing sth)  (Jeff was in the habit of taking a walk after dinner. | get into/get in/out of the habit (=start/stop doing something regularly))  (Since I stopped taking lessons, I've gotten out of the habit of practising my saxophone. | She got in the habit of having a drink with us on Fridays. | eating/drinking habits (=how often, how much, and what you eat or drink))  (When she is busy, her eating habits become erratic.) 2 »ANNOYING BEHAVIOUR« something that someone does regularly and that other people find annoying  (have a habit of doing sth)  (Glenna has an annoying habit of talking to herself while she's working. | a bad/filthy/disgusting habit)  (Don't bite your fingernails - it's a disgusting habit.) 3 »DRUGS« a strong physical need to keep taking a drug regularly  (Many of them get into petty crime to support their habit. | heroin/cocaine etc habit)  (His cocaine habit ruined him physically and financially. | kick the habit (=stop taking a drug regularly)) 4 break the habit to stop doing something that is annoying or bad for your health  (a new system that's supposed to help you break the smoking habit) 5 don't make a habit of (doing) sth spoken used to tell someone who has done something bad or wrong that they should not do it again  (You're ten minutes late. I hope you're not going to make a habit of this.) 6 I'm not in the habit of doing sth spoken used when you are offended because someone has suggested that you have done something that you have not done  (I'm not in the habit of lying to my friends.) 7 old habits die hard used to say that it is difficult to make people change their attitudes or behaviour 8 »CLOTHES« a long loose piece of clothing worn by people in some religious groups  (a nun's habit) 9 habit of thought/mind the way someone usually thinks about something, or the attitudes they usually have  (- see also a creature of habit creature (5), by/from force of habit force1 (9))  ( USAGE NOTE: HABIT WORD CHOICE habit, custom, tradition, practice, convention A habit is usually something someone does again and again, perhaps without them realizing it He has an annoying habit of biting his nails. A custom is usually something which has been done for a long time by a group - for example, a school, company, or society, perhaps every year the custom of holding exams in June | a local custom A tradition is similar to a custom, but may be older and passed down from parents to their children the tradition of eating turkey at Thanksgiving | a family tradition A practice is the usual way of doing things in business, law etc The normal practice in this company is to send the bill as soon as the job is done. The conventions of a society are its generally accepted rules of behaviour It is a matter of convention for people attending funerals to wear dark clothes. )