Possess
[pə'zes] or [pə'zɛs]
Definition
(verb.) have as an attribute, knowledge, or skill; 'he possesses great knowledge about the Middle East'.
(verb.) enter into and control, as of emotions or ideas; 'What possessed you to buy this house?'; 'A terrible rage possessed her'.
Editor: Miles--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold.
(v. t.) To have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book.
(v. t.) To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize.
(v. t.) To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc.
(v. t.) To put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; -- followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively.
Typed by Camilla
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Own, have a title to, be seized of.[2]. Have, hold, occupy, control.[3]. Put in possession.
Editor: Philip
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Occupy, enjoy, have, hold, entertain, own
ANT:Abandon, renounce, abjure, surrender, lose, forfeit, resign
Edited by Karl
Definition
v.t. to have or hold as an owner: to have the control of: to inform: to seize: to enter into and influence: to put (one's self) in possession (of): (Spens.) to achieve: (Shak.) put in possession of information convince.—adj. Possessed′ influenced by some evil spirit demented.—n. Posses′sion act of possessing: the thing possessed: a country taken by conquest: property: state of being possessed as by an evil spirit: madness.—adjs. Posses′sionary Posses′sive pertaining to or denoting possession.—n. Posses′sive (gram.) a pronoun denoting possession: the possessive case.—adv. Posses′sively.—n. Posses′sor one who possesses: owner: proprietor: occupant.—adj. Posses′sory relating to a possessor or possession: having possession.—Give possession to put in another's power or occupancy; Take possession to assume ownership; Writ of possession a process directing a sheriff to put a person in possession of property recovered in ejectment.
Edited by Amber
Examples
- They possess significance only as movements toward something away from what is now going on. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But every subject at some phase of its development should possess, what is for the individual concerned with it, an aesthetic quality. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Wandering savages or the inhabitants of open plains rarely possess more than one breed of the same species. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Take me--mould me to your will, possess my heart and soul to all eternity. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- I alone possess the key, and the gate is never left unlocked. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I do not; nor do I wish to possess it, replied the Count insolently. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- You may hide it, but I can possess it any moment I choose. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Every day, now, old Scriptural phrases that never possessed any significance for me before, take to themselves a meaning. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- I had scant luggage to take with me to London, for little of the little I possessed was adapted to my new station. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- My mother was the most beautiful woman, and possessed the finest and most benevolent countenance, I have ever seen in my whole life. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Medina was a comparatively well-watered town, and possessed abundant date groves; its inhabitants were Yemenites, from the fertile land to the south. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- 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 could feel the muscles of the thin arm round my neck swell with the vehemence that possessed her. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- What stores of knowledge they possessed! Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Warlike Tribes have been put to flight so easily by civilised armies in modern times that such tribes have been doubted as possessing their boasted or even natural courage. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Remember we have one possessing the fatal name of Helena here. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Not possessing my father's excellent common sense, answered Mr. Franklin, I believe the Colonel's life was threatened, exactly as the Colonel said. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Chairs, lounges and lighter furniture were thus made from bent pieces of wood with very few joints, having a neat and attractive appearance, and possessing great strength. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- She wondered at herself, as she had so often wondered, that, possessing the knack, she did not more consistently exercise it. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- The discovery was made in 1839, but was not accepted by those to whom it was submitted as possessing any importance. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- I feel obliged to him for possessing it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- If he has been kidnapped, it could not have been for anything which he himself possesses. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- I don't know what it is you call by that name, or where it is, or who possesses it. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- So Smyrna really still possesses her crown of life, in a business point of view. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- No uninstructed man or woman possesses it. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- No creed possesses any final sanction. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Each possesses a separate and independent province with its own peculiar aims and ways of proceeding. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Meyler possesses a good understanding when one can give him a fortnight to consider things; but whenever impulse is required he is of no use on earth. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
Typed by Hiram