own
Forms
- Plural
- owns
- present (v1)
- own
- past (v2)
- owned
- past participle (v3)
- owned
- present participle
- owning
- 3rd person singular
- owns
Definitions
1.Belonging to; possessed; acquired and designated by; proper to; property of; titled to; held in one's name; under/using the name of. Often marks a possessive determiner as reflexive, referring back to the subject of the clause or sentence.
- The fathers shall not bee put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: euery man shall be put to death for his owne sinne.
2.Not shared.
- When we move into the new house, the kids will each have their own bedroom.
1.To have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); to have legal title to; to acquire a property or asset.
2.To have recognized political sovereignty over a place, territory, as distinct from the ordinary connotation of property ownership.
- The United States owns Point Roberts by the terms of the Treaty of Oregon.
3.To defeat or embarrass; to overwhelm.(informal)
- If he wins, he will own you.
- I will own my enemies.
4.To virtually or figuratively enslave.
1.A crushing insult.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #160
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Uncommon
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Word family
Etymology
From Middle English aȝen, owen, from Old English āgen (“own, proper, peculiar”), originally the past participle of āgan; from Proto-West Germanic *aigan (“own”), from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz (“own”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to have, possess”).
Cognates