own
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English [edit]
Pronunciation [edit]
- (UK) IPA: /əʊn/, X-SAMPA: /@Un/
- (US) enPR: ōn, IPA: /oʊn/, X-SAMPA: /oUn/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -əʊn
Etymology 1 [edit]
From Middle English ownen, from Old English āgnian (“to own”). Cognate with German eignen, Swedish ägna, Icelandic eiga. See also the related term owe.
Verb [edit]
own (third-person singular simple present owns, present participle owning, simple past and past participle owned)
- (transitive) To have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); "To possess by right; to have the right of property in; to have the legal right or rightful title to." (Ref 1)
- I own this car.
- To claim as one's own; to answer to.
- 1902, Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Tank Books 2007, p. 25:
- I am sorry to own I began to worry then.
- 1902, Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, Tank Books 2007, p. 25:
- (transitive) To defeat or embarrass; to overwhelm.
- I will own my enemies.
- If he wins, he will own you.
- (transitive) To virtually or figuratively enslave.
- (gaming, slang) To defeat, dominate, or be above, also spelled pwn.
- (transitive, computing, slang) To illicitly obtain "super-user" or "root" access into a computer system thereby having access to all of the user files on that system; pwn.
- (intransitive) To admit to be true; concede, grant, allow, acknowledge, confess; not to deny; to admit to be true. (Ref 2)
- 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 5
- They learned how perfectly peaceful the home could be. And they almost regretted—though none of them would have owned to such callousness—that their father was soon coming back.
- 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 5
- (intransitive) To acknowledge or admit the possession or ownership of. (Ref 3)
Synonyms [edit]
- (have rightful possession of): to possess
- (acknowledge responsibility for): be responsible for, admit or take responsibility for
- (admit): confess, acknowledge, allow
- (defeat): beat, defeat, overcome, overthrow, vanquish, have, take, best
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
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Etymology 2 [edit]
From Middle English owen, aȝen, from Old English āgen (“own, proper, peculiar”), from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz (“own”), from Proto-Indo-European *eiḱ- (“to have, possess”). Cognate with Scots ain (“own”), Dutch eigen (“own”), German eigen (“own”), Swedish egen (“own”), Icelandic eigin (“own”).
Alternative forms [edit]
- 'n (informal contraction)
Adjective [edit]
own
- Belonging to; possessed; proper to.
- Surprisingly, I realised my own brother had the same idea as me.
- You need to find your own seat - this one is mine.
- He gave her a pen, because he already had his own.
- The restored Maxwell is Bob's own car.
- They went this way, but we need to find our own way.
- We have made some arrangements, but you will need to make your own.
- They were all prepared for the picnic, because they had all brought their own food and plates.
- (obsolete) Peculiar, domestic.
- (obsolete) Not foreign.
Usage notes [edit]
- implying ownership, often with emphasis. It always follows a possessive pronoun, or a noun in the possessive case.
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
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Etymology 3 [edit]
From Middle English unnen (“to favour, grant”), from Old English unnan (“to grant, allow, recognise, confess”), from Proto-Germanic *unnaną (“to grant, thank”), from Proto-Indo-European *ān- (“to notice”). Akin to German gönnen (from Old High German gi- + unnan), Old Norse unna (Danish unde)[1]. In Gothic only the substantive 𐌰𐌽𐍃𐍄𐍃 (ansts) is attested.[2]
Verb [edit]
own (third-person singular simple present owns, present participle owning, simple past and past participle owned)
- (transitive, obsolete) To grant; give.
- (transitive) To admit; concede; acknowledge.
- 1611, Shakespeare, The Tempest, v.:
- Two of those fellows you must know and own.
- 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 1, Jocelin of Brakelond
- It must be owned, the good Jocelin, spite of his beautiful childlike character, is but an altogether imperfect 'mirror' of these old-world things!
- 1611, Shakespeare, The Tempest, v.:
- (transitive) To recognise; acknowledge.
- to own one as a son
- (intransitive, UK dialectal) To confess.
Translations [edit]
Statistics [edit]
References [edit]
- 1896, Universal Dictionary of the English Language [UDEL], v3 p3429:
- To possess by right; to have the right of property in; to have the legal right or rightful title to.
- 1896, ibid., UDEL
- 1896, ibid., UDEL
- 1896, ibid., UDEL
- Notes:
- ^ own in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- ^ Etymology of the German cognate in Deutsches Wörterbuch
Anagrams [edit]
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English verbs
- en:Gaming
- English slang
- en:Computing
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English determiners
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- British English
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- 200 English basic words