possess

Verb

possess (third-person singular simple present possesses, present participle possessing, simple past and past participle possessed)

1. (transitive) To have (something) as, or as if as, an owner; to have, to own.
   • He does not even possess a working telephone.
   • For men being generally poſſeſſed before the time of our Saviour, […] of an opinion, that the Souls of men were ſubſtances diſtinct from their Bodies, and therefore that when the Body was dead, the Soule of every man, whether godly, or wicked, muſt ſubſiſt ſomewhere by vertue of its own nature...1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of Spirituall Darknesse from Misinterpretation of Scripture”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William...

   Synonyms:

   inhold

2. (transitive) Of an idea, thought, etc.: to dominate (someone's mind); to strongly influence.
   • I am poſſeſt with an adulterate blot, / My bloud is mingled with the crime of luſt: […]c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
   • This [suspicion of plague] poſſeſs'd the Heads of the People very much, and few car'd to go thro' Drury-Lane, or the other Streets ſuſpected, unleſs they had extraordinary Buſineſs, that obliged them to it.1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 3
3. (transitive) Of a supernatural entity, especially one regarded as evil: to take control of (an animal or person's body or mind).
   • They thought he was possessed by evil spirits.
   • If all the diuels of hell be drawne in little, and Legion himſelfe poſſeſt him, yet Ile ſpeake to him.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
4. (also, literary, poetic, reflexive, transitive) Of a person: to control or dominate (oneself or someone, or one's own or someone's heart, mind, etc.).
   • Resolving to possess myself in some quiet if it might be, in a time of so great jealosy, I built by my Brother's permission a study, made a fishpond, an island, and some other solitudes and retirements, at Wotton, which gave the first occasion of improving them to those water-works and gardens...1643 May 11 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 2 May 1643]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I...
   • Uneasy persons, who cannot possess their own minds, vent their spleen upon all who depend upon them; […]1711 August 17 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, August 7, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 137; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New...
   1. (also, literary, poetic, reflexive, transitive) To dominate (a person) sexually; to have sexual intercourse with (a person).
      • Now tell me how long you would haue her, after you haue poſſeſt her?c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
      • She leads him towards the steps, drawing him by the odour of her armpits, the vice of her painted eyes, the rustle of her slip in whose sinuous folds lurks the lion reek of all the male brutes that have possessed her.1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 472
5. (archaic, transitive) To cause an idea, thought, etc., to strongly affect or influence (someone); to inspire, to preoccupy.
   • What on earth possessed you to go walking by the quarry at midnight?
   • My eares are ſtopt, & cannot hear good newes, / So much of bad already hath poſſeſt them.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
6. (archaic, transitive) To occupy the attention or time of (someone).
   • [W]hen he [Henry Wotton] was beyond ſeventy years of age he made this deſcription of a part of the preſent pleaſure that poſſeſt him, […]1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter I, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […], →OCLC...
   • [M]y Head quite was turn'd with the Whimſies of foreign Adventures, and all the pleaſant Amuſements of my Farm, and my Garden, my Cattle, and my Family, which before entirely poſſeſt me, were nothing to me, had no Reliſh, and were like Muſick to one that has no Ear, or Food to one that has no...1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 9
7. (also, archaic, literary, transitive) To obtain or seize (something); to gain, to win.
   • [T]hey in ſecret counſell cloſe conſpird, / How to effect ſo hard an enterprize, / And to poſſeſſe the purpoſe they deſird: […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 51, page 440
   • [T]here thou maiſt braine him, / Hauing firſt ſeiz'd his bookes: […] Remember / Firſt to poſſeſſe his Bookes; for without them / Hee's but a Sot, as I am; […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
8. (also, archaic, reflexive, transitive) Chiefly followed by of or with: to vest ownership of something in (oneself or someone); to bestow upon, to endow.
   • Lvcius Tarquinius (for his exceſſive pride ſurnamed Superbus) after hee had cauſed his owne father in law Seruius Tullius to be cruelly murdred, and contrarie to the Romaine lawes and cuſtomes, not requiring or ſtaying for the peoples ſuffrages, had poſſeſſed himſelfe of the kingdome: […]1594, William Shakespeare, “The Argument”, in Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC
   • And for theſe great affaires do aske ſome charge, / Tovvards our aſsiſtance vve doe ſeaze to vs: / The Plate, coine, reuenevves, and moueables / VVhereof our Vnckle Gaunt did ſtand poſſeſt.1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597...

   Synonyms:

   seise

   Antonyms:

   dispossess, unpossess

9. (transitive) To have control or possession of, but not to own (a chattel or an interest in land).
10. (obsolete, transitive) To give (someone) information or knowledge; to acquaint, to inform.
    • I cannot bid you bid my daughter liue, / That were impoſſible, but I pray you both, / Poſſeſs the people in Meſſina here, / How innocent ſhe died, […]1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V...
    • To[by Belch]. Poſſeſſe vs, poſſeſſe vs, tell vs ſomething of him. / Mar[ia]. Marrie ſir, ſometimes he is a kinde of Puritane.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
11. (obsolete, transitive) To have the ability to use, or knowledge of (a language, a skill, etc.)
    • And Mr. Holt found that Harry could read and write, and poſſeſſed the two languages of French and Engliſh very well, […]1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Whither in the Time of Thomas, Third Viscount, I Had Preceded him, as Page to Isabella”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume I, London: […] Smith...
12. (obsolete, transitive) To inhabit or occupy (a place).
    • [W]ell thou knowſt / God hath pronounc't it death to taſte that Tree, / The only ſign of our obedience left / Among ſo many ſignes of power and rule / Conferrd upon us, and Dominion giv'n / Over all other Creatures that poſſeſſe Earth, Aire, and Sea.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
    • Wherefore getting out again, on that ſide next to his own Houſe; he [Pliable] told me, I ſhould poſſeſs the brave Countrey alone for him: ſo he went his way, and I came mine.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 16