possess, v.
(pəˈzɛs)
[a. OF. possess-ier, -er (1269 in Godef.) f. L. possess-, ppl. stem of possidēre to possess, perh. through influence of F. possesseur possessor, etc., the regular OF. repr. of possidēre being posseer, -eir, -eoir.]
I. Radical senses.
† 1. a. trans. Of a person or body of persons: To hold, occupy (a place or territory); to reside or be stationed in; to inhabit (with or without ownership). Obs. (or merged in 2).
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 431 b/2 How now..we possessen pesably our royame without ony werre. 1535 Coverdale Josh. xxiv. 4, I gaue..Esau mount Seir to possesse. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 47 b, Colledges..were fyrst founded for the pore, but now for the most part they possesse them, which have enough besides. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 431 Dominion giv'n Over all other Creatures that possesse Earth, Aire, and Sea. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 2 The City of Destruction, a populous place, but possessed with a very ill conditioned, and idle sort of People. 1713 Steele Guard. No. 6 ¶3 The whole shire is now possessed by gentlemen, who owe Sir Harry a part of Education. |
| absol. or intr. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. v. 48 Let instructions enter Where Folly now possesses. |
† b. Of a thing: To occupy, take up (a space or region); to be situated at, on, or in. Obs. (exc. with mixture of other senses).
| 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xiii. 159 The waves of the South sea, runne 30 leagues, and the other 70 are possessed with the billowes and waves of the North sea. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 22 The acute [accent]..may possesse the last syllab:..the penult:..the antepenult:..and the fourth also from the end. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 205 The Addition of four Foot will be filled up and possessed by the Walls and Clay-work. 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sc. v. 22 The Solar System, in which you see the Sun possesses nearly the central Point. [1850 Rossetti Blessed Damozel xi, When those bells Possessed the mid-day air.] |
† c. Of a disease, etc.: To affect, infect. Obs.
| 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 90 If the palsie possesse the opposite part. 1678 Phillips, Achor, a disease possessing the hairy scalp. 1699 Bentley Phal. 266 An error..which has possess'd the Copies of this Play. |
† d. To take up the attention or thoughts of; to occupy, engross. Obs.
| 1653 Walton Angler vi. 134 To enjoy the former pleasures that there possest him. 1692 Locke Toleration iv. Wks. 1727 III. 464 Affairs of State which wholly possess them when grown up. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. i. 8 The..innocent amusements..which before entirely possessed me, were nothing to me. |
2. a. To hold as property; to have belonging to one, as wealth or material objects; to own.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xi. 34 Thocht all this warld thow did posseid, Nocht eftir death thow sall possess. 1526 Tindale Luke xii. 15 For no mannes life stondeth in the haboundaunce of the thynges which he possesseth. 1685 Lady Russell Lett. (1819) I. 68, I was too rich in possessions whilst I possessed him. 1785 Paley Mor. Philos. iii. i. iv. 102 It is..‘consistent with the will of God’, or ‘right’, that I should possess that share which these regulations assign me. 1881 Froude Short Stud. (1883) IV. ii. ii. 187 He could not give to others what he did not himself possess. |
b. Law. To have possession of, as distinct from ownership; see possession 1 b.
| 1888 Pollock & Wright Possession in Com. Law 2 The person entitled to possess is generally (though not always) the owner. |
c. To have as a faculty, adjunct, attribute, quality, condition, etc. (Often meaning no more than the simple have.)
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 115 The residue of my lyfe will I lead in Rhodes, where I may possesse peace and quietnes. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 40 The Quarries possess more Stone, and the Woods more Timber than a Banquet Room. 1744 Harris Three Treat. iii. i. (1765) 134 No Animal possesses its Faculties in vain. 1838 Thirlwall Greece xxv. III. 367 Notwithstanding the ample means of information which they possest, great ignorance and many erroneous opinions prevailed. 1840 H. Ainsworth Tower of London (1864) 235 ‘His folly has destroyed the fairest chance that ever man possessed’, observed the bishop. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. vi. 46 The former may possess many times the intensity of the latter. 1889 Times 27 Sept. 5/4 An elaborate hidated survey, which possesses a peculiar value from its reference to the Domesday survey. |
d. fig. in emphatic sense.
| 1685–6 Lady Russell Lett. (1819) I. 81 My weakness is invincible, which makes me, as you phrase it,..possess past calamities. 1852 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xviii. 236 The writhings of a heart that has been made to possess its own iniquities. |
e. (after F. posséder.) To have knowledge of or acquaintance with; to be master of, or conversant with (a language, etc.).
[Cf. quot. 1674 s.v. possessor c.]
| 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. iii, Harry..possessed the two languages of French and English very well. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. i. 45 Every critic should try and possess one great literature, at least, besides his own. |
3. a. To take possession of, seize, take; to come into possession of, obtain, gain, win. arch.
| 1526 Tindale Luke xxi. 19 With your pacience possesse your soules. [1611 Bible ibid., In your patience possesse ye your soules. 1382 Wyclif, ȝe schulen welde ȝoure soulis. 1881 R.V. ye shall win your souls]. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 45 A company of rats vpon a sudden possest his house. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iii. 51 How to effect so hard an enterprize, And to possesse the purpose they desird. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. ii. 100 There thou maist braine him, Hauing first seiz'd his Bookes... Remember First to possesse his Bookes. 1649 Cromwell in Carlyle Lett. & Sp. (1871) II. 227 Upon Thursday the One-and-thirtieth, I possessed a Castle called Kilkenny. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. Wks. 1799 I. 165 Turning down a narrow lane..in order to possess a pig's stye, that we might take the gallows in flank. 1877 L. Morris Epic Hades ii. 118 The strong brute forces..leap on him, and seize him and possess His life. |
b. spec. To have sexual intercourse with (a woman). Also absol.
This sense, suggested in private correspondence in 1969 by Professor W. Empson, may not have been intended by the writers themselves in some of the examples that follow.—R.W.B.
| 1592 Kyd Sp. Trag. i. i. 10 By duteous seruice and deseruing love, In secret I possest a worthy dame. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 144 Now tell me how long you would haue her, after you haue possest her? 1680 Rochester Poems 87 Mad to possess himself he threw, On the defenceless lovely Maid! c 1707 T. D'Urfey Wit & Mirth (1719) IV. 332 And tho' I let Loobies Oft finger my Bubbies: Who think when they kiss me, That they shall possess me. 1749 Smollett tr. Le Sage's Gil Blas II. v. ii. 197 The four banditti expressed an equal desire of possessing the lady who had fallen into their hands, and talked of casting lots for her. 1876 Romance of Lust IV. 39 Her delight and surprise at finding the dear Egerton had equally desired to possess her. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 72 Possess her once take the starch out of her. Ibid. 491 All the male brutes that have possessed her. 1961 Partisan Rev. XXVIII. 648 A conflict having to do with father-murder and the wish to possess the father's woman. |
4. To keep, maintain (oneself, one's mind or soul) in a state or condition (of patience, quiet, etc.); often in allusion to Luke xxi. 19 (the proper sense being misunderstood: see quot. 1526 in 3). Also (without in), to maintain control over, to keep calm or steady (cf. self-possessed, self-possession).
| 1643 Evelyn Mem. 2 May, Resolving to possess myselfe in some quiet,..I built..a study,..at Wotton. 1654 Bramhall Just Vind. ii. (1661) 27 All Christians..are obliged to passiue obedience, to possess their souls in patience. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 137 ¶1 Uneasy Persons, who cannot possess their own Minds. 1749 Chesterfield Lett. (1775) II. 168 A man who does not possess himself enough to bear disagreeable things, without visible marks of anger..is at the mercy of every artful knave. 1890 Mrs. E. Lynn Linton in Chamb. Jrnl. 4 Oct. 625/1 Every man worthy of the name of man should know how to possess his soul—bearing with patience those things which energy cannot change. |
5. a. Of a demon or spirit (usually evil): To occupy and dominate, control, or actuate.
| 1596 Bp. W. Barlow Three Serm. i. 23 The Hogges without leaue [of God the Father]..he coulde not possesse. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iv. 95 If all the diuels of hell be drawne in little, and Legion himselfe possest him, yet Ile speake to him. 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 181 Some are of Opinion that Abel slew the very same Serpent the Devil had formerly possessed. 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ix. 113 The spirit which possessed him must be, they thought, divine. 1902 W. Axon in Trans. Roy. Soc. Lit. Ser. ii. XXIII. 99 Belfagor undertook to possess a rich lady, and not to be exorcised, save by Matteo. |
b. pass. (usually const. with, in mod. use also by, formerly of). See also possessed 2.
| 1526 Tindale Matt. iv. 24 Them that were possessed with devils. ― Luke viii. 36 He that was possessed of the devyll. 1612 Dekker If it be not good Wks. 1873 III. 309, I am possest with the diuell and cannot sleepe. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 38 Thought by the Jewes to be possessed either with a good, or evill spirit. 1727 De Foe Syst. Magic i. ii. (1840) 53 A set of people who were not possessed by, but rather, as it may be called, are possessed of the devil. 1829 W. Irving Conq. Granada i. iv, One of those fanatic infidels possessed of the devil. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. iii. vii., II. 155 A woman eats a lettuce without making the sign of the cross. She is possessed by a devil. |
6. Of an idea, a mental condition, or the like: To take or have hold of (a person); to hold, dominate, actuate; to affect or influence strongly and persistently. (Formerly also of bodily conditions.)
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 206 My eares are stopt, and cannot hear good newes, So much of bad already hath possest them. 1610 ― Temp. ii. i. 199 What a strange drowsines possesses them? 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. xi. 44 Which Tuscan superstition seasing upon Rome hath since possessed all Europe. 1722 De Foe Plague (1754) 3 This [suspicion] possess'd the Heads of the People very much. a 1814 Gonzanga i. i. in New Brit. Theatre III. 102 What can possess this young lord to be out of his bed at this hour? 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur 31 In a mood very different from that which now possesses them. |
For the passive with with: see 9 d.
II. Causal uses; = cause to possess.
† 7. With in: To put in possession (esp. legal possession) of (lands, estates, etc.); to settle or establish in. Rarely without in. Obs.
| c 1465 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 4 Edwardeus Dai gracia Sithe god hathe..posseside þe in thi right Thoue hime honour with al thi myght. 1576 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 518 To enter and possess the said Nicoll in his saidis landis. 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine viii. 39 He deposed Arimba from his kingly seat, and possessed Alexander therein. 1687 in Magd. Coll. & Jas. II (O.H.S.) 178 Hee thought the Bishop illegally possest. 1708 in Phenix II. 241 Then the Just..shall be possess'd in the fulness of their Glory. |
8. a. With of (also † with): To endow with, put in possession of; to bestow (something specified) upon, give (something) to. Now rare or Obs. exc. as in b or c.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. i. 19 He possessis vthir pure pepil..vitht the samyn reches. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xi. 21, I will possesse you of that ship and Treasure. 1644 Milton Educ. Wks. (1847) 98/2 By possessing our souls of true virtue. 1658 Whole Duty Man vii. §7 By possessing his heart with this virtue of contentedness. 1789 Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 III. 45, I have thought it better to possess him immediately of the paper. 1784 Sir J. Reynolds Disc. xii. (1876) 55 It is better to possess the model with the attitude you require. |
b. refl. To take possession of, take for oneself, make one's own; = 3.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. Argt. 4 Lucius Tarquinius..had possessed himselfe of the kingdome. 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 546 Then possest he himselfe with his armes. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 35 ¶11 My Lord Orkney received Orders to possess himself of Mortagne. 1885 Sir J. Bacon in Law Times Rep. LII. 570/1 All that the plaintiffs did was to possess themselves..of the securities. 1888 Pollock & Wright Possession in Com. Law 2 No plain man would hesitate to say that a thief possesses himself of the goods carried away. |
c. pass. To be in possession of; to be endowed with; to possess (sense 2). possessed of or possessed with, having possession of, possessing.
| 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xv. xlii (W. de W.), Creta was somtyme possessyd wyth [Bodl. MS. ihiȝt wiþ] an hundryd noble cytees. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 162 The plate{ddd}and moueables, Whereof our Vncle Gaunt did stand possest. c 1600 ― Sonn. xxix, Featur'd like him, like him with friends possest. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 137 They found the Spaniards possessed of the Towne. 1791 Cowper Iliad iii. 108 He..of her And her's possest, shall bear them safe away. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 122 Every human being possessed of reason. 1863 Gladstone Glean. (1879) II. 197 The active vigorous English workman, possessed of all his limbs. 1888 Pollock & Wright Possession in Com. Law 36 The King is not unfrequently spoken of as being seised or possessed of the crown. |
9. a. With with: To cause to be possessed by (a feeling, idea, or the like: see 6); to imbue, inspire, permeate, affect strongly or permanently with; to cause to feel or entertain.
| 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 180 If therefore you will compose in this kind, you must possesse yourselfe with an amorus humour. 1642 Observ. his Maj. Answ. to City Lond. Petit. 8 To possesse the people with a fancy against that. 1670 G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. i. 25 What Devil possesses them with such wicked designs? 1710 Abp. King Let. to Swift 16 Sept., To possess my lord Shrewsbury and Mr. Harley with the reasonableness of the affair. 1863 Gladstone Financ. Statem. 14, I wish that I could possess the Committee with the impression..of the deep and vital importance of the subject. |
b. With clause: To imbue with the notion, to persuade, convince.
| 1607 Middleton Michælm. Term. i. i. 50 Easy. You've easily possess'd me, I am free. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. iii, He had possessed the lady, that he was the only man in the world of a sound, pure and untainted Constitution. 1747 S. Fielding Lett. David Simple I. 278 From the time I went away, my Mother had constantly possessed her, that I did so. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Possess, to persuade, to inform, to convince. |
† c. Without const.: To influence the opinion of; to prepossess. Obs.
| 1591 Raleigh Last Fight Rev. (Arb.) 15 Hoping to possesse the ignorant multitude by anticipating and fore⁓running false reports. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxiii. §6 Here is observed, that in all causes the first tale possesseth much. 1681 Trial S. Colledge 22 Colledge. Mr. Attorney, I should not interrupt you, if I were not afraid this was spoken to possess the Jury. |
d. pass. (coinciding, and in early instances often identical, with the passive of sense 6).
| 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 56 A poets brayne, possest with layes of loue. a 1652 Brome Queen & Concubine ii. viii, My Lord, I do presume I am unwelcome, Because you are possess'd I never lov'd you. 1661 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 395 Being possest with a deep melancholy,..he fell, as 'twere, downe right mad. 1769 Robertson Chas. V III. vii. 43 Henry, possessed..with an high idea of his own power and importance. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings i. 7 He had all his life been possessed with one great conviction. |
† e. With inverted construction: To create a possessing idea, etc., in (the mind); to infuse. Obs. rare.
| 1606 G. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine ix. 42 She..possest such a superstitious toy in the heads of the people, that she made them yearly sanctifie a day and keep it holy in remembrance of him. |
10. To put in possession of, furnish with (knowledge or information); to instruct in; to inform, acquaint, to give to understand that. Obs. or arch.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 35, I haue possest your grace of what I purpose. 1601 ― Twel. N. ii. iii. 150 Possesse vs, possesse vs, tell vs something of him. 1607 G. Wilkins Mis. Enf. Marriage i. B ij b, I haue possest you with this businesse Maister Doctor. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 123 If hee had any more to possesse the King, he should first acquaint him, and consequently have an answer. 1666 Wood Life 3 Feb. (O.H.S.) II. 72 He beforehand possest the Vicecancellor that I would help him. 1682 News fr. France 9 They are very careful to possess all people in such secret methods as they dare venture on. 1771–90 Franklin Autobiog. (1856) 91 Our debates possessed me so fully of the subject, that I wrote and printed an anonymous pamphlet on it. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. viii. 201 Contriving to possess her fellow-conspirators..of all the particulars of his behaviour. |