possess English · revision 10521

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1380|origins=fro possesser|origins=la possidere}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pəˈzɛs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English possessen, partly a back-formation from [[possession]] (1340) and partly [[bor|fro|possesser|t=to have and hold, take]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Latin possess-, past participle stem of possidēre, to have and hold, own, be master of,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) probably a compound of potis, able, powerful (see [[potent]]), and sedēre, to sit (see [[sit]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) literally to sit as master.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To hold, occupy, inhabit, without regard to ownership: about 1380 in Chaucer's Boethius in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To hold as property is recorded from about 1500 (1500–20 in the OED),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and to seize, take into one's possession, from the 1520s.^(Etymonline) The demonic sense, to have complete power over, is from the 1530s, implied in ''possessed'',^(Etymonline) and the weakened sense, to fascinate or affect intensely, by the 1590s.^(Etymonline) To have a quality or faculty is from 1576.^(OED 1989) In law, to have possession as distinct from ownership is from 1888.^(OED 1989) ''Possessive'', in grammar, is from about 1450.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1340 – possession.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1380 – to occupy.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1500 – to own.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1530s – of a demon, to control.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1576 – to have a quality.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590s – to obsess.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To have as property; to [[own]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To have as a quality or attribute: ''to possess good eyesight''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To have knowledge or mastery of.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of a feeling, idea or spirit, to dominate or control: ''what possessed you?''^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[possessor]]

+ * [[possessorship]]

+ * [[prepossessing]]

+ * [[repossess]]

+ * [[unpossessed]]

+ * [[unpossessing]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dispossess]]

+ * [[dispossessed]]

+ * [[possession]]

+ * [[possessive]]

+ * [[possessory]]

+ * [[unpossessable]]

+ * [[unpossessive]]

+ * [[potent]]

+ * [[sit]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Scots and Yorkshire legal use, to possess was to give legal possession of land.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}