occupy

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Verb 1.2.1 Derived terms 1.2.2 Related terms 1.2.3 Translations 1.2.4 External links

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Latin occupare (“‘to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up, employ’”) < ob (“‘to, on’”) + capere (“‘to take’”).

[edit] Verb

to occupy (third-person singular simple present occupies, present participle occupying, simple past and past participle occupied)

1. (transitive): To fill either time or space.

   The film occupied three hours of my time.

2. (transitive): To live or reside in.

   We occupy a small flat.

3. (transitive): To fill or hold a position.

   I occupy the post of deputy cat catcher.

4. (transitive): To conquer somewhere.

   The Germans occupied the Channel Islands.

5. (transitive): To hold the attention of.

   I occupied her friend while he made his proposal.

6. (transitive, obsolete) To cohabit, to have sexual intercourse with. (Reference: Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language, second edition, 1966.)

   1590s: God's light, these villains will make the word as odious as the word 'occupy;' which was an excellent good word before it was ill sorted — William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, II.iv [1].

7. (transitive, surveying) To place the theodolite or total station at (a point).

[edit] Derived terms

• occupier
• occupation

[edit] Related terms

• occupant

[edit] Translations

[edit] External links

• occupy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• occupy in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911