Talk:own

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Pwned derived?[edit]

Pwned is shown in derived terms, however it hasn't been confirmed where pwn and pwned came from, it is entirely possible pwned came from pwn with -ed suffix added, if pwned cannot be confirmed to be derived from owned, then pwned should be removed from the derived terms section.Scotty Zebulon 01:12, 28 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Political sovereignty[edit]

I have added a definition relating to political sovereignty, as it's not uncommon to encounter statements such as "The United States owns the island of St Croix". The legal property owners within a territory can be distinct from the sovereign authority.Pithecanthropus4152 (talk) 21:40, 16 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

unne(n)[edit]

That Middle English unne(n) was eventually confused with owne(n), rather than dying out completely in the 14th century to be replaced with (among others) grant of French origin, is also supported by this source. I'm not completely sure how it worked phonetically (the words should have remained distinct, but maybe not in all forms and all dialects? Did ownde merge with unde anywhere?), but otherwise it makes sense. I tried to disentangle the senses in the entry. Interestingly, it's even possible that via "to allow, permit; to wish; to grant; to confess, concede" > "to acknowledge, recognise" > "to acknowledge, recognise as one's own" > "to claim as one's own" (which I believe belongs here, although the semantic closeness makes it difficult to be certain), the modern sense "to defeat; to embarass; to overwhelm; to virtually enslave" also ultimately derives from Middle English unne(n). --Florian Blaschke (talk) 13:30, 18 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Internet slang noun?[edit]

Just saw some clickbait site saying that Donald Trump's Mexico wall is a "colossal self-own". Equinox 03:31, 16 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

take responsibility for something[edit]

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. also adds: Transitive, take responsibility for something: to acknowledge full personal responsibility for something He encouraged us to own the project --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:53, 16 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Pronoun[edit]

Your day off is your own, I'll use my own --Backinstadiums (talk) 00:16, 2 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Ppl. a. 1. Possessed, held as one's own property. Often in comb., as American-owned, British-owned, Chinese-owned, foreign-owned; employer-owned, government-owned, privately-owned. 2. Acknowledged. https://oed.com/oed2/00028237 --Backinstadiums (talk) 15:35, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

en:Verb transistive/intransitive[edit]

Can the labelling of these verb senses please be checked?

(intransitive) To admit, concede, grant, allow, acknowledge, confess; not to deny. 
(transitive) To admit; concede; acknowledge. 

It's not obvious to me from the respective quotations that those labels are correct.

Or — given that the definitions are otherwise almost identical — maybe rather check the quotations? Maybe they've been misallocated? For instance

  • "I own thy speechless, placeless power" is marked intransitive, but seems like it could be transitive.
  • "It must be owned, the good Jocelin, spite of his beautiful childlike character, is but an altogether imperfect 'mirror' of these old-world things! is marked transitive, but seems like it could be intransitive, if interpreted as "It must be owned [that] the good Jocelin [...]".

Thanks. —DIV (49.180.119.40 01:45, 5 April 2023 (UTC))[reply]