GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
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Possess (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Possessed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Possessing.] [L. possessus, p. p. of possidere to have, possess, from an inseparable prep. (cf. Position) + sedere to sit. See Sit.]
1. To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold.
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Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. Jer. xxxii. 15.
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Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,
After offense returning, to regain
Love once possessed. Milton.
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2. 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”.
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I am yours, and all that I possess. Shak.
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3. To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize.
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How . . . to possess the purpose they desired. Spenser.
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4. To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc. “Weakness possesseth me.” Shak.
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Those which were possessed with devils. Matt. iv. 24.
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For ten inspired, ten thousand are possessed. Roscommon.
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5. 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.
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I have possessed your grace of what I purpose. Shak.
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Record a gift . . . of all he dies possessed
Unto his son. Shak.
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We possessed our selves of the kingdom of Naples. Addison.
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To possess our minds with an habitual good intention. Addison.
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Syn. -- To have; hold; occupy; control; own. -- Possess, Have. Have is the more general word. To possess denotes to have as a property. It usually implies more permanence or definiteness of control or ownership than is involved in having. A man does not possess his wife and children: they are (so to speak) part of himself. For the same reason, we have the faculties of reason, understanding, will, sound judgment, etc.: they are exercises of the mind, not possessions.
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