The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural possessions
Control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights. quotations examples
Once complete, guide rails will be installed inside the tunnels ready for the box jack itself - which NR intends to push into place during a nine-day engineering possession in September, following a trial push in late August. [...] A small number of weekday and weekend possessions will also be required on June 20-21, September 5-6, and between December 19-March 2021, [...]
2020 April 8, Paul Stephen, “ECML dive-under drives divergence”, in Rail, page 44
Something that is owned. examples
Ownership; taking, holding, keeping something as one's own. examples
A territory under the rule of another country. examples
The condition or affliction of being possessed by a demon or other supernatural entity. quotations examples
How long hath this possession held the man?
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 V, scene i]
The condition of being under the control of strong emotion or madness. examples
(sports) Control of the ball; the opportunity to be on the offensive. quotations examples
Their first half was marred by the entire side playing too deep, completely unable to build up any form of decent possession once the ball left their bewildered defence.
2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC
(Australian rules football) A disposal of the ball during a game, i.e. a kick or a handball. quotations examples
Defender Colin O'Riordan had 41 possessions in the NEAFL last week to continue his outstanding form, while Ryan Clarke had 47 in the Swans' big loss to Brisbane.
2019 In the mix: Who's pushing for selection for round eight? Australian Football League, 7 May 2019. Accessed 7 May 2019.
(linguistics) A syntactic relationship between two nouns or nominals that may be used to indicate ownership. examples
third-person singular simple present possessions, present participle possessioning, simple past and past participle possessioned
(obsolete) To invest with property.