Definition of "possess"

(transitive)

1. To have (something) as, or as if as, an owner; to have, to own.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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; […]

     1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of Spirituall Darknesse from Misinterpretation of Scripture”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], 4th part (Of the Kingdome of Darknesse), page 340

   • 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.

     1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, page 162

   • [T]he ship turned and made slowly for her wharf under the wall, bringing even more fairly to view the life with which the river at that point was possessed.

     1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter II, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], book fourth, page 179

   • He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.

     1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, London: The Bodley Head

2. Of an idea, thought, etc.: to dominate (someone's mind); to strongly influence.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • I am poſſeſt with an adulterate blot, / My bloud is mingled with the crime of luſt: […]

     c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii], page 89, column 1

   • 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.

     1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], page 3

   • A horrid mistrust of the whole house possessed me. I saw it in the light of a deadly trap.

     1919, Joseph Conrad, chapter VII, in The Arrow of Gold: A Story between Two Notes, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, […], part V, page 298

   • I saw that turbulent emotions possessed her, so I asked what I thought would be some sedative questions about her little girl.

     1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 1, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, page 17

3. Of a supernatural entity, especially one regarded as evil: to take control of (an animal or person's body or mind).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • If all the diuels of hell be drawne in little, and Legion himſelfe poſſeſt him, yet Ile ſpeake to him.

     c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iv], page 268, column 1

   • I ſtand centinell perdu, and ſomebody dyes if I ſleepe, I am poſſeſt with the diuell and cannot ſleepe.

     1612, Thomas Dekker, “If It Be Not Good, the Diuel is In It. […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker […], volume III, London: John Pearson […], published 1873, Act III, scene ii, page 309

   • [I]t is manifeſt, that whoſoever behaved himſelfe in extraordinory manner, was thought by the Jewes to be poſſeſſed either with a good, or evill ſpirit; […]

     1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Vertues Commonly Called Intellectuall; and Their Contrary Defects”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], 1st part (Of Man), page 38

   • But I am now talking of a Set of People who were not poſſeſs'd BY, but rather, as it may be called, are poſſeſs'd OF the Devil; […]

     1727, [Daniel Defoe], “How Wisdom and Learning Advanc’d Men in the First Ages to Royalty and Government, and How Many of the Magicians were Made Kings on that Account; as Zoroaster, Cadmus, and Many Others”, in A System of Magick; or, A History of the Black Art. […], London: […] J. Roberts […], page 55

   • Had I lived in the Middle Ages I am certain I would have believed that a talking bird must be possessed by the devil.

     1919, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in The Arrow of Gold: A Story between Two Notes, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, […], part IV, page 187

   • But when an older man approaches her to pay his respects, something unusual happens. He begins shaking violently, stroking an invisible beard and laughing out loud.Security camera footage shows the man running into the temple, leaving behind his shoes. Worshippers say that the man may have been possessed by the God of the Earth, who is often portrayed with a long beard. Some say that the god was using the old man to welcome Matsu.

     2018 December 31, Paula Chao, “God of Earth welcomes the Matsu pilgrimage in person?”, in Radio Taiwan International‎, archived from the original on 23 September 2023‎

4. (also reflexive, chiefly literary and poetic) Of a person: to control or dominate (oneself or someone, or one's own or someone's heart, mind, etc.).  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1643 May 12 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, page 30

   • Uneasy persons, who cannot possess their own minds, vent their spleen upon all who depend upon them; […]

     1711 August 18 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, August 7, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 137; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, page 218

   • Take me—mould me to your will, possess my heart and soul to all eternity.

     1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter IV, in The Last Man. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], page 136

   • I tried to possess my soul in patience, and to forget how hungry I was.

     1915 August–September, John Buchan, “The Adventure of the Bald Archæologist”, in The Thirty-Nine Steps, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published October 1915, page 137

   1. To dominate (a person) sexually; to have sexual intercourse with (a person).  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • Now tell me how long you would haue her, after you haue poſſeſt her?

        c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i], page 201, column 2

      • 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.

        1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], part II [Odyssey], page 472

5. (archaic)

   1. To cause an idea, thought, etc., to strongly affect or influence (someone); to inspire, to preoccupy.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • My eares are ſtopt, & cannot hear good newes, / So much of bad already hath poſſeſt them.

        c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i], page 30, column 1

      • 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.

        1605, Francis Bacon, “The Second Booke”, in The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […]

      • What a ſtrange drowſines poſſeſſes them?

        1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i], page 8, column 1

      • Thus hath he deluded many Nations in his Auguriall and Extiſpicious inventions, from caſuall and uncontrived contingences divining events ſucceeding. Which Tuſcan ſuperſtition ſeaſing upon Rome hath ſince poſſeſſed all Europe.

        1650, Thomas Browne, “A Further Illustration”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], 1st book, page 33

      • He [Envy] neither regardeth Prince nor People, Law nor Cuſtom: but doth all that he can to poſſeſs all men with certain of his diſloyal notions, which he in the general calls Principles of Faith and Holineſs.

        1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […]; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, page 129

      • At ev'ry ſtroke wit flaſhes in our eyes, / The turns are quick, the poliſh'd points ſurpriſe, / But ſhine with cruel and tremendous charms, / That while they pleaſe poſſeſs us with alarms: […]

        1782, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 207

      • Some male or female flatterer had, in evil hour, possessed him with the idea that there was much beauty of contour in a pair of huge substantial legs, which he had derived from his father, a car-man of Limoges; […]

        1823, [Walter Scott], “The Envoy”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., pages 187–188

   2. To occupy the attention or time of (someone).  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • [W]hen he [Henry Wotton] was beyond ſeventy years of age he made this deſcription of a part of the preſent pleaſure that poſſeſt him, […]

        1653, Iz[aak] Wa[lton], chapter I, in The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Fish and Fishing, […], London: […] T. Maxey for Rich[ard] Marriot, […]; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969,

      • [M]y Head quite was turn'd with the Whimſies of foreign Adventures, and all the pleaſant Amuſements of my Farm, and my Garden, my Cattle, and my Family, which before entirely poſſeſt me, were nothing to me, had no Reliſh, and were like Muſick to one that has no Ear, or Food to one that has no Taſte: […]

        1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], page 9

   3. (also literary) To obtain or seize (something); to gain, to win.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • [T]hey in ſecret counſell cloſe conſpird, / How to effect ſo hard an enterprize, / And to poſſeſſe the purpoſe they deſird: […]

        1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 51, page 440

      • [T]here thou maiſt braine him, / Hauing firſt ſeiz'd his bookes: […] Remember / Firſt to poſſeſſe his Bookes; for without them / Hee's but a Sot, as I am; […]

        1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii], page 12

   4. (also reflexive) Chiefly followed by of or with: to vest ownership of something in (oneself or someone); to bestow upon, to endow.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • Lvcius Tarquinius (for his exceſſive pride ſurnamed Superbus) after hee had cauſed his owne father in law Seruius Tullius to be cruelly murdred, and contrarie to the Romaine lawes and cuſtomes, not requiring or ſtaying for the peoples ſuffrages, had poſſeſſed himſelfe of the kingdome: […]

        1594, William Shakespeare, “The Argument”, in Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […]

      • And for theſe great affaires do aske ſome charge, / Tovvards our aſsiſtance vve doe ſeaze to vs: / The Plate, coine, reuenevves, and moueables / VVhereof our Vnckle Gaunt did ſtand poſſeſt.

        1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, [Act II, scene i]

      • I will poſſeſſe you of that ſhip and Treaſure.

        c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene xi], page 355, column 2

      • VVhen in diſgrace with Fortune and mens eyes, / I all alone bevveepe my out-caſt ſtate, / […] / VViſhing me like to one more rich in hope, Featur'd like him, like him with friends poſſeſt, / […] / For thy ſweet loue remembred ſuch vvelth brings, / That then I skorne to change my ſtate with Kings.

        1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 29”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […]‎, London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley

      • The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our firſt parents by regaining to knovv God aright, and out of that knovvledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as vve may the neereſt by poſſeſſing our ſouls of true vertue, vvhich being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the higheſt perfection.

        , [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], page 2

      • [H]e, the hoſts between, / With warlike Menelaus ſhall in fight / Contend for Helen, and for all her wealth. / Who ſtrongest proves, and conquers, he, of her / And her's poſſeſt, ſhall bear them ſafe away, / And oaths of amity ſhall bind the reſt.

        1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., “[The Iliad.] Book III.”, in The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 70, lines 104–109

6. (law) To have control or possession of, but not to own (a chattel or an interest in land).  examples

7. (obsolete)

   1. To give (someone) information or knowledge; to acquaint, to inform.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • I cannot bid you bid my daughter liue, / That were impoſſible, but I pray you both, / Poſſeſs the people in Meſſina here, / How innocent ſhe died, […]

        1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, [Act V, scene i]

      • To[by Belch]. Poſſeſſe vs, poſſeſſe vs, tell vs ſomething of him. / Mar[ia]. Marrie ſir, ſometimes he is a kinde of Puritane.

        c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene iii], page 261, column 2

      • The Pagan in ſhort told him, if hee had any more to poſſeſſe the King he ſhould firſt acquaint him, and conſequently haue an anſwer, to which our Ambaſſadour replyed little, tho diſcontented much, perceiuing by this, he ſhould haue no further acceſſe vnto the King, […]

        1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “Occurrents in Cazbeen”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Travaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, page 123

   2. To have the ability to use, or knowledge of (a language, a skill, etc.)  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • And Mr. Holt found that Harry could read and write, and poſſeſſed the two languages of French and Engliſh very well, […]

        1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Whither in the Time of Thomas, Third Viscount, I Had Preceded him, as Page to Isabella”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume I, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], page 65

   3. To inhabit or occupy (a place).  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • [W]ell thou knowſt / God hath pronounc't it death to taſte that Tree, / The only ſign of our obedience left / Among ſo many ſignes of power and rule / Conferrd upon us, and Dominion giv'n / Over all other Creatures that poſſeſſe Earth, Aire, and Sea.

        1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 426–432

      • Wherefore getting out again, on that ſide next to his own Houſe; he [Pliable] told me, I ſhould poſſeſs the brave Countrey alone for him: ſo he went his way, and I came mine.

        1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […]; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, page 16

      • [W]e are not willing to let any other Nation ſettle there, becauſe we would not let them ſee how weak we are, and what a vaſt Extent of Land we poſſeſs there with a few Men: […]

        1725, [Daniel Defoe], “Part II”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. […], London: […] A[rthur] Bettesworth, […]; and W. Mears, […], page 115

      • When those bells / Possessed the mid-day air, / Strove not her steps to reach my side / Down all the echoing stair?

        1870, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “[Poems.] The Blessed Damozel.”, in Poems, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], stanza 11, page 4

   4. Chiefly followed by that: to convince or persuade (someone).  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • By ſuch malicious Inſinuations, he had poſſeſs'd the Lady, that he was the only Man in the World, of a ſound, pure, and untainted Conſtitution: […]

        1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “’’Jack’’’s Charms, or the Method by which He Gain’d ’’Peg’’’s Heart”, in John Bull Still in His Senses: Being the Third Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], page 12

(intransitive)

1. To dominate sexually; to have sexual intercourse with.  examples

2. To inhabit or occupy a place.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Doſt thou thinke in time / She will not quench, and let inſtructions enter / Where Folly now poſſeſſes?

     1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene v], page 373, column 2