occupy

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈɒk.jə.paɪ/, US /ˈɑː.kjə.paɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English occupien, borrowed from Old French occuper or directly Latin occupō (“to take over, seize, possess”), with an irregular ending,^[2][3][4][5] from ob- (“over”) and an intensive form of capiō (“to grasp, seize”) (see captive),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[3] The ending, Middle English -ien, cannot be explained from the French or the Latin;^[2][3] Hoad supposes an Anglo-French form, and Etymonline also suggests an Anglo-French change.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To keep busy: before 1325 in Barnhart.^[2] To take possession of: before 1340 in the OED, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Taking up space or time is from 1340, and employing or busying a person from about 1340.^[7] Taking a place by settling or conquest is from 1375,^[7] holding possession from about 1380,^[7] and living in a place as its tenant from about 1400.^[7] An early 15th-century sense, to have sexual intercourse with, became a common euphemism in the 16th and 17th centuries, and this drove the word out of polite use for a time.^[3][5] Occupation and occupier are from the 14th century, and occupant from the 16th.^[6] In Scots dialect to occupy was to be busy with something, as a spinning wheel.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to keep busy.^[2]
• before 1340 – to take possession.^[7]
• 1340 – to take up space or time.^[7]
• 1375 – to occupy a place.^[7]
• 16th–17th century – a sexual euphemism.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To live in or use a house, office or other place.
2. To keep busy or engrossed, often in the passive.
3. To take up an amount of time or space.
4. To take and hold possession of, by conquest or as a protest: students occupied the college buildings.
5. To hold or fill an office or position.

Word family

• occupier
• occupiable
• misoccupy
• preoccupy
• reoccupy

Related words

• occupant
• occupation
• capture
• captive

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)