How do you spell the word possess

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English possessen (“to have, own; to obtain possession of; to inhabit, occupy”) [and other forms],[1] from Middle French possesser, possessier, Old French possesser, possessier (“to have, own, possess; to dominate”), from Latin possessus (“possessed; seized”), the perfect passive participle of possideō (“to have, hold, own, possess; to have possessions; to take control or possession of, occupy, seize; to abide, inhabit, occupy; to dominate”), from potis (“able, capable, possible”) (from Proto-Indo-European *pótis (“master; ruler; husband”)) + sedeō (“to sit; to be seated; to be established, hold firm”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sed- (“to sit”)).[2]

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /pəˈzɛs/
• Rhymes: -ɛs
• Hyphenation: po‧ssess

Verb[edit]

possess (third-person singular simple present possesses, present participle possessing, simple past and past participle possessed)

1. (transitive)
   1. To have (something) as, or as if as, an owner; to have, to own. Synonym: inhold

      He does not even possess a working telephone.

      • 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, […], OCLC 895063360, fourth part (Of the Kingdome of Darknesse), page 340:

        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; […]

      • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, OCLC 830979744, page 162:

        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.

      • 1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter II, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 458843234, book fourth, page 179:

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

      • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene ii], page 89, column 1:

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

      • 1925, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, chapter I, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, OCLC 884653065; republished New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1953, →ISBN, page 17:

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

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

      They thought he was possessed by evil spirits.

      • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iv], page 268, column 1:

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

      • 1612, “If It Be Not Good, the Diuel is In It. […]”, in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker […], volume III, London: John Pearson […], published 1873, OCLC 153881952, Act III, scene ii, page 309:

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

      • 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, […], OCLC 895063360, first part (Of Man), page 38:

        [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; […]

      • 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 […], OCLC 2135262, page 55:

        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; […]
   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.).

      • 1643 May 12 (Gregorian calendar)​, John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 2 May 1643]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], volume I, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, OCLC 976971842, page 30:

        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.

      • 1711 August 18 (Gregorian calendar)​, Joseph Addison; Richard Steele, “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, OCLC 191120697, page 218:

        Uneasy persons, who cannot possess their own minds, vent their spleen upon all who depend upon them; […]
      1. To dominate (a person) sexually; to have sexual intercourse with (a person).

         • c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene i], page 201, column 2:

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

         • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 15: Circe]”, in Ulysses, London: The Egoist Press, published October 1922, OCLC 2297483, part II [Odyssey], page 472:

           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.

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

         What on earth possessed you to go walking by the quarry at midnight?

         • c. 1590–1591, 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, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i], page 30, column 1:

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

         • 1605, Francis Bacon, “The Second Booke”, in The Tvvoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane, London: […] [Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, […], OCLC 932932554:

           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.

         • 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, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i], page 8, column 1:

           What a ſtrange drowſines poſſeſſes them?

         • 1650, Thomas Browne, “A Further Illustration”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], OCLC 152706203, 1st book, page 33:

           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.

         • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], OCLC 228725984; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, OCLC 5190338, page 129:

           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.

         • 1782, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], OCLC 1029672464, page 207:

           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: […]

         • 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., OCLC 892089432, pages 187–188:

           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; […]

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

         • 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, […], OCLC 1097101645; reprinted as The Compleat Angler (Homo Ludens; 6), Nieuwkoop, South Holland, Netherlands: Miland Publishers, 1969, →ISBN:

           [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, […]

         • 1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], OCLC 613471018, page 9:

           [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: […]

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

         • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book III, canto III, stanza 51, page 440:

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

         • 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, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii], page 12:

           [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; […]

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

         • 1594, William Shakespeare, “The Argument”, in Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664:

           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: […]

         • 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, OCLC 213833262, [Act II, scene i]:

           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.

         • 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, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene xi], page 355, column 2:

           I will poſſeſſe you of that ſhip and Treaſure.

         • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 29”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […]‎[1], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, OCLC 216596634:

           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.

         • [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], OCLC 946735316, page 2:

           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.

         • 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, […], OCLC 779243096, lines 104–109, page 70:

           [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.

   6. (law) To have control or possession of, but not to own (a chattel or an interest in land).
   7. (obsolete)
      1. To give (someone) information or knowledge; to acquaint, to inform.

         • 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, OCLC 932921146, [Act V, scene i]:

           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, […]

         • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii], page 261, column 2:

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

         • 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, OCLC 869931719, page 123:

           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, […]

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

         • 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, […], OCLC 1003921571, page 65:

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

      3. To inhabit or occupy (a place).

         • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 426–432:

           [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.

         • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], OCLC 228725984; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, OCLC 5190338, page 16:

           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.

         • 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, […], OCLC 579994, page 115:

           [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: […]
      4. Chiefly followed by that: to convince or persuade (someone).

         • 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, […], OCLC 228742815, page 12:

           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: […]

2. (intransitive)
   1. To dominate sexually; to have sexual intercourse with.
   2. To inhabit or occupy a place.

      • 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, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v], page 373, column 2:

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

Conjugation[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

• possessable, possessible
• possessed (adjective, noun)
• possessing (adjective, noun)
• possessingly
• unpossess
• unpossessed (adjective)
• unpossessing (adjective)

[edit]

• dispossess
• dispossessed (adjective)
• dispossessee
• dispossession
• dispossessive
• dispossessor
• dispossessory
• possession
• possessional
• possessionary
• possessionate
• possessioned
• possessioner
• possessionist
• possessionistic
• possessionless
• possessival (obsolete)
• possessive
• possessively
• possessiveness
• possessor
• possessoress (dated, rare)
• possessorial
• possessorship
• possessory
• unpossessable
• unpossessive

Translations[edit]

to have (something) as, or as if as, an owner

of an idea, thought, etc.: to dominate (someone’s mind)

of a supernatural entity, especially one regarded as evil: to take control of (an animal or person’s body or mind)

to control or dominate (oneself or someone, or one's own or someone’s heart, mind, etc.)

to vest ownership of something in (oneself or someone) — see bestow,‎ endow

to cause an idea, thought, etc., to strongly affect or influence (someone) — see inspire,‎ preoccupy

to occupy the attention or time of (someone)

to obtain or seize (something) — see gain,‎ win

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

to dominate sexually; to have sexual intercourse with — see copulate

References[edit]

1. ^ “possessen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. ^ “possess, v.”, in OED Online
   
   ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “possess, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

• 
  possession (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Which is correct possess or posses?

What is the correct spelling of posses?

What posses means?

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