OXFORD 9000
📚 verb • entry_id 16166

possess

/pəˈzɛs/
Meanings (ES + gloss)
poseer
To have (something) as, or as if as, an owner; to have, to own.
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 f…
He does not even possess a working telephone.
poseer
Of a supernatural entity, especially one regarded as evil: to take control of (an animal or person's body or mind).
Had I lived in the Middle Ages I am certain I would have believed that a talking bird must be possessed by the devil.
They thought he was possessed by evil spirits.