Owe
[əʊ] or [o]
Definition
(verb.) be in debt; 'She owes me $200'; 'I still owe for the car'; 'The thesis owes much to his adviser'.
(verb.) be obliged to pay or repay.
(verb.) be indebted to, in an abstract or intellectual sense; 'This new theory owes much to Einstein's Relativity Theory'.
Checker: Roberta--From WordNet
Definition
(v.) To possess; to have, as the rightful owner; to own.
(v.) To have or possess, as something derived or bestowed; to be obliged to ascribe (something to some source); to be indebted or obliged for; as, he owed his wealth to his father; he owed his victory to his lieutenants.
(v.) Hence: To have or be under an obigation to restore, pay, or render (something) in return or compensation for something received; to be indebted in the sum of; as, the subject owes allegiance; the fortunate owe assistance to the unfortunate.
(v.) To have an obligation to (some one) on account of something done or received; to be indebted to; as, to iwe the grocer for supplies, or a laborer for services.
Checker: Wayne
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Be indebted to, be bound to pay.[2]. Be obliged to ascribe to, be obliged for, have to attribute to.
Editor: Manuel
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Borrow, hypothecate, attribute
ANT:Requite, repay, liquidate, defray
Checked by Dick
Definition
v.t. to possess or to be the owner of: to have what belongs to another: to be bound to pay: to be obliged for.—v.i. to be in debt.—Be owing to be due or ascribed (to).
Edited by Charlene
Unserious Contents or Definition
v. To have (and to hold) a debt. The word formerly signified not indebtedness but possession; it meant 'own and in the minds of debtors there is still a good deal of confusion between assets and liabilities.
Inputed by Dustin
Examples
- I dare say I owe as much as good-natured people will let me owe. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- We owe the railroad chiefly to the needs of the north of England, and there we find the real birth of the locomotive. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Damn the beast, if he had as many lives as a cat, he would owe them all to me! Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I'm sure it's no pleasure to me to go today, but it's a debt we owe society, and there's no one to pay it but you and me. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- I owe that to you, Mrs. Casaubon says. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I don't owe him anything. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- It is a duty we all owe to the poor creature herself to trace her, continued Sir Percival. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The furniture for which he owed would not want renewing; nor even the stock of wine for a long while. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It was extremely difficult, I heard, to make out what he owed, or what he had paid, or of what he died possessed. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- I owed her gratitude. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Have you forgot, Marianne, how many pleasant days we have owed to them? Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- She knew how each tenant of the cottages paid or owed his little rent. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- But I think I'll have one minute more of what I am owed, if you don't mind. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- As we have already seen, the Royal Society and Milton's Academies owed their origin to the Great Rebellion. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- It slid from its balance, owing to the change in its course against the currents of air. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- You have saved my life: I have a pleasure in owing you so immense a debt. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Knife-edge girdle diamonds are impractical owing to the liability of chipping the thin edge in setting or by blows while being worn. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The T'other Governor he's always joked his jokes agin me, owing, as I believe, to my being a honest man as gets my living by the sweat of my brow. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The organization was crude, the steam-engineering talent poor, and owing to the impossibility of getting any considerable capital subscribed, the plants were put in as cheaply as possible. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- He knew how much he had to do--more than his usual work, owing to the commotion of the day before. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- It circled (owing to the guys of one wing being loose) to the right, completing two circles and beginning a third as it advanced; so that the whole course had the form of a spiral. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- The Grand Trunk still owes Mr. Edison the wages due him at the time he thus withdrew from its service, but the claim has never been pressed. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- In the first place, she owes no money privately to any living creature. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- My sex owes you every amends for the treatment you received in days gone by. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- It belongs exclusively to the Nineteenth Century, and owes its existence to the tireless energy of one man. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- My father owes him money. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- The ruby owes its fine red color to the presence of oxide of chromium; the sapphire its deep blue to either a lower oxide of chromium or to an oxide of titanium. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- I may give another instance of a structure which apparently owes its origin exclusively to use or habit. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Checker: Zachariah