possess

1. (transitive)Examples: "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, without acknowledging therein any ſupernaturall gift of Gods; the Doctors of the Church doubted a long time, what was the place, which they were to abide in, till they ſhould be re-united to their Bodies in the Reſurrection; […]"; "Even where the affections are not strongly moved by any superior excellence, the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds, which hardly any later friend can obtain."Synonyms: inholdtransitive

2. (transitive)Examples: "I am poſſeſt with an adulterate blot, / My bloud is mingled with the crime of luſt: […]"; "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."; "A horrid mistrust of the whole house possessed me. I saw it in the light of a deadly trap."transitive

3. (transitive)Examples: "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."; "I ſtand centinell perdu, and ſomebody dyes if I ſleepe, I am poſſeſt with the diuell and cannot ſleepe."transitive

4. (transitive)Examples: "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 which afterwards succeeded them."; "Uneasy persons, who cannot possess their own minds, vent their spleen upon all who depend upon them; […]"; "Take me—mould me to your will, possess my heart and soul to all eternity."alsoliterarypoeticreflexivetransitive

5. (transitive)Examples: "Now tell me how long you would haue her, after you haue poſſeſt her?"; "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."alsoliterarypoeticreflexivetransitive

6. (transitive)Examples: "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."; "Heare is obſerued that in all cauſes the firſt tale poſſeſſeth much, in ſorte, that the preiudice, thereby wrought wil bee hardly remooued, excepte ſome abuſe or falſitie in the Information be detected."archaictransitive