Pos*sess" (?; 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.
Houses and fields and vineyards shall be
possessed again in this land.
Jer. xxxii.
15.
Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,
After offense returning, to regain
Love once possessed.
Milton.
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.
I am yours, and all that I possess.
Shak.
3. To obtain occupation or possession of; to
accomplish; to gain; to seize.
How . . . to possess the purpose they
desired.
Spenser.
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.
Those which were possessed with
devils.
Matt. iv. 24.
For ten inspired, ten thousand are
possessed.
Roscommon.
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.
I have possessed your grace of what I
purpose.
Shak.
Record a gift . . . of all he dies possessed
Unto his son.
Shak.
We possessed our selves of the kingdom of
Naples.
Addison.
To possess our minds with an habitual good
intention.
Addison.
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.
