Definition of "owe"

owe

/əʊ/

verb
third-person singular simple present owes, present participle owing, simple past owed or (archaic) ought, past participle owed or (archaic) own
1. (ditransitive) To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
  Quotations
  VVe owe God a death, and we can but die:
  1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I
  […] To you, Antonio,I owe the most, in money and in love;And from your love I have a warrantyTo unburden all my plots and purposesHow to get clear of all the debts I owe.
  c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]
  He inherited a fair fortune from his uncle, but owed it all before he came into it, and spent it twice over immediately afterwards.
  1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […]
2. (intransitive) To have debt; to be in debt.
3. (transitive) To have as a cause; used with to.