possess
To have (something) as, or as if as, an owner; to have, to own.
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.
[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.
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.
Of an idea, thought, etc.: to dominate (someone's mind); to strongly influence.
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.
I saw that turbulent emotions possessed her, so I asked what I thought would be some sedative questions about her little girl.
Of a supernatural entity, especially one regarded as evil: to take control of (an animal or person's body or mind).
If all the diuels of hell be drawne in little, and Legion himselfe possest him, yet Ile speake to him.
[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; […]
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; […]
Had I lived in the Middle Ages I am certain I would have believed that a talking bird must be possessed by the devil.
(chiefly literary and poetic) Of a person: to control or dominate (oneself or someone, or one's own or someone's heart, mind, etc.).
Take me—mould me to your will, possess my heart and soul to all eternity.
I tried to possess my soul in patience, and to forget how hungry I was.
To dominate (a person) sexually; to have sexual intercourse with (a person).
Now tell me how long you would have her, after you have 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.
(archaic) To cause an idea, thought, etc., to strongly affect or influence (someone); to inspire, to preoccupy.
My eares are stopt, & cannot hear good newes, / So much of bad already hath possest them.
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.
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.
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; […]
(archaic) To occupy the attention or time of (someone).
[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: […]
(archaic, also literary) To obtain or seize (something); to gain, to win.
[T]here thou maist braine him, / Having first seiz'd his bookes: […] Remember / First to possesse his Bookes; for without them / Hee's but a Sot, as I am; […]
To vest ownership of something in (oneself or someone); to bestow upon, to endow.
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: […]
The end then of learning is to repair the ruins of our first parents by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imitate him, to be like him, as we may the neerest by possessing our souls of true vertue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith makes up the highest perfection.
(law) To have control or possession of, but not to own (a chattel or an interest in land).
(obsolete) To give (someone) information or knowledge; to acquaint, to inform.
I cannot bid you bid my daughter live, / That were impossible, but I pray you both, / Possess the people in Messina here, / How innocent she died, […]
(obsolete) To have the ability to use, or knowledge of (a language, a skill, etc.)
And Mr. Holt found that Harry could read and write, and possessed the two languages of French and English very well, […]
(obsolete) To inhabit or occupy (a place).
[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.
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.
[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: […]
(obsolete) To convince or persuade (someone).
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: […]
To dominate sexually; to have sexual intercourse with.
To inhabit or occupy a place.
Dost thou thinke in time / She will not quench, and let instructions enter / Where Folly now possesses?
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