Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Have?

\Have\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Had}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Having}. Indic. present, I {have}, thou {hast}, he {has}; we, ye, they {have}.] [OE. haven, habben, AS. habben (imperf. h[ae]fde, p. p. geh[ae]fd); akin to OS. hebbian, D. hebben, OFries, hebba, OHG. hab?n, G. haben, Icel. hafa, Sw. hafva, Dan. have, Goth. haban, and prob. to L. habere, whence F. avoir. Cf. {Able}, {Avoirdupois}, {Binnacle}, {Habit}.] 1. To hold in possession or control; to own; as, he has a farm. 2. To possess, as something which appertains to, is connected with, or affects, one. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has. --Shak. He had a fever late. --Keats. 3. To accept possession of; to take or accept. Break thy mind to me in broken English; wilt thou have me? --Shak. 4. To get possession of; to obtain; to get. --Shak. 5. To cause or procure to be; to effect; to exact; to desire; to require. It had the church accurately described to me. --Sir W. Scott. Wouldst thou have me turn traitor also? --Ld. Lytton. 6. To bear, as young; as, she has just had a child. 7. To hold, regard, or esteem. Of them shall I be had in honor. --2 Sam. vi. 22. 8. To cause or force to go; to take. ``The stars have us to bed.'' --Herbert. ``Have out all men from me.'' --2 Sam. xiii. 9. 9. To take or hold (one's self); to proceed promptly; -- used reflexively, often with ellipsis of the pronoun; as, to have after one; to have at one or at a thing, i. e., to aim at one or at a thing; to attack; to have with a companion. --Shak. 10. To be under necessity or obligation; to be compelled; followed by an infinitive. Science has, and will long have, to be a divider and a separatist. --M. Arnold. The laws of philology have to be established by external comparison and induction. --Earle. 11. To understand. You have me, have you not? --Shak. 12. To put in an awkward position; to have the advantage of; as, that is where he had him. [Slang] Note: Have, as an auxiliary verb, is used with the past participle to form preterit tenses; as, I have loved; I shall have eaten. Originally it was used only with the participle of transitive verbs, and denoted the possession of the object in the state indicated by the participle; as, I have conquered him, I have or hold him in a conquered state; but it has long since lost this independent significance, and is used with the participles both of transitive and intransitive verbs as a device for expressing past time. Had is used, especially in poetry, for would have or should have. Myself for such a face had boldly died. --Tennyson. {To have a care}, to take care; to be on one's guard. {To have (a man) out}, to engage (one) in a duel. {To have done} (with). See under Do, v. i. {To have it out}, to speak freely; to bring an affair to a conclusion. {To have on}, to wear. {To have to do with}. See under Do, v. t. Syn: To possess; to own. See {Possess}.