*posse*

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dispossessed p. pr. & vb. n. Dispossessing. ] [ Pref. dis- + possess: cf. F. déposséder. ] To put out of possession; to deprive of the actual occupancy of, particularly of land or real estate; to disseize; to eject; -- usually followed by of before the thing taken away; as, to dispossess a king of his crown. [ 1913 Webster ]

Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. physically or spiritually homeless or deprived of security.
Syn. -- homeless, roofless. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

made a living out of shepherding dispossessed people from one country to another James Stern

n. [ Cf. F. dépossession. ] 1. The act of putting out of possession; the state of being dispossessed. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) The putting out of possession, wrongfully or otherwise, of one who is in possession of a freehold, no matter in what title; -- called also ouster. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who dispossesses. Cowley. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Holding or held formerly in possession. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Preoccupied; prepossessed; preëngaged. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not extremely forepossessed with prejudice. Bp. Sanderson. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L. ] In possibility; possible, although not yet in existence or come to pass; -- contradistinguished from in esse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Posse comitatus. [ 1913 Webster ]

In posse. See In posse in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L. posse to be able, to have power + LL. comitatus a county, from comes, comitis, a count. See County, and Power. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Law) The power of the county, or the citizens who may be summoned by the sheriff to assist the authorities in suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which is forcibly opposed. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A collection of people; a throng; a rabble. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word comitatus is often omitted, and posse alone used. “A whole posse of enthusiasts.” Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

As if the passion that rules were the sheriff of the place, and came off with all the posse. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Possessed p. pr. & vb. n. Possessing. ] [ L. possessus, p. p. of possidere to have, possess, from an inseparable prep. (cf. Position) + sedere to sit. See Sit. ] 1. To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold. [ 1913 Webster ]

Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. Jer. xxxii. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,
After offense returning, to regain
Love once possessed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am yours, and all that I possess. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize. [ 1913 Webster ]

How . . . to possess the purpose they desired. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc. “Weakness possesseth me.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those which were possessed with devils. Matt. iv. 24. [ 1913 Webster ]

For ten inspired, ten thousand are possessed. Roscommon. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; -- followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have possessed your grace of what I purpose. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Record a gift . . . of all he dies possessed
Unto his son. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

We possessed our selves of the kingdom of Naples. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

To possess our minds with an habitual good intention. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To have; hold; occupy; control; own. -- Possess, Have. Have is the more general word. To possess denotes to have as a property. It usually implies more permanence or definiteness of control or ownership than is involved in having. A man does not possess his wife and children: they are (so to speak) part of himself. For the same reason, we have the faculties of reason, understanding, will, sound judgment, etc.: they are exercises of the mind, not possessions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. possession, L. possessio. ] 1. The act or state of possessing, or holding as one's own. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy; ownership, whether rightful or wrongful. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Possession may be either actual or constructive; actual, when a party has the immediate occupancy; constructive, when he has only the right to such occupancy. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The thing possessed; that which any one occupies, owns, or controls; in the plural, property in the aggregate; wealth; dominion; as, foreign possessions. [ 1913 Webster ]

When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matt. xix. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. Acts v. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Ob. 17. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The state of being possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

How long hath this possession held the man? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy. --
To put in possession. (a) To invest with ownership or occupancy; to provide or furnish with; as, to put one in possession of facts or information. (b) (Law) To place one in charge of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. --
To take possession, to enter upon, or to bring within one's power or occupancy. --
Writ of possession (Law), a precept directing a sheriff to put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To invest with property. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to possession; arising from possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A possessor; a property holder. [ Obs. ] “Possessioners of riches.” E. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Having been of old freemen and possessioners. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An invidious name for a member of any religious community endowed with property in lands, buildings, etc., as contrasted with mendicant friars. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the possessive case; as, a possessival termination. Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. possessivus: cf. F. possessif. ] Of or pertaining to possession; having or indicating possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

Possessive case (Eng. Gram.), the genitive case; the case of nouns and pronouns which expresses ownership, origin, or some possessive relation of one thing to another; as, Homer's admirers; the pear's flavor; the dog's faithfulness. --
Possessive pronoun, a pronoun denoting ownership; as, his name; her home; my book. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Gram.) The possessive case. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Gram.) A possessive pronoun, or a word in the possessive case. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a possessive manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L.: cf. F. possesseur. ] One who possesses; one who occupies, holds, owns, or controls; one who has actual participation or enjoyment, generally of that which is desirable; a proprietor. “Possessors of eternal glory.” Law. [ 1913 Webster ]

As if he had been possessor of the whole world. Sharp. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Owner; proprietor; master; holder; occupant. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. possessorius: cf. F. possessoire. ] Of or pertaining to possession, either as a fact or a right; of the nature of possession; as, a possessory interest; a possessory lord. [ 1913 Webster ]

Possessory action or
Possessory suit (Law), an action to regain or obtain possession of something. See under Petitory. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ W. posel curdled milk, posset. ] A beverage composed of hot milk curdled by some strong infusion, as by wine, etc., -- much in favor formerly. “I have drugged their posset.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Posseted; p. pr. & vb. n. Posseting. ] 1. To curdle; to turn, as milk; to coagulate; as, to posset the blood. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To treat with possets; to pamper. [ R. ] “She was cosseted and posseted.” O. W. Holmes. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Prepossessed p. pr. & vb. n. Prepossessing. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To preoccupy, as ground or land; to take previous possession of. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To preoccupy, as the mind or heart, so as to preclude other things; hence, to bias or prejudice; to give a previous inclination to, for or against anything; esp., to induce a favorable opinion beforehand, or at the outset. [ 1913 Webster ]

It created him enemies, and prepossessed the lord general. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to invite favor; attracting confidence, favor, esteem, or love; attractive; as, a prepossessing manner. -- Pre`pos*sess"ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

n. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Preoccupation; prior possession. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Preoccupation of the mind by an opinion, or impression, already formed; preconceived opinion; previous impression; bias; -- generally, but not always, used in a favorable sense; as, the prepossessions of childhood. “The prejudices and prepossessions of the country.” Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Bent; bias; inclination; preoccupancy; prejudgment. See Bent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who possesses, or occupies, previously. R. Brady. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To possess again; as, to repossess the land. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Specifically: To take possession of, for failure of the possessor to make payments owed for purchase of; -- used of real estate subject to mortgage payments and of other objects purchased on a time-payment plan, which may be taken back (repossessed) by the original vendor if the payments are not made on time. [ PJC ]

To repossess one's self of (something), to acquire again (something lost). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or the state of possessing again. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Composed or tranquil in mind, manner, etc.; undisturbed. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The possession of one's powers; calmness; self-command; presence of mind; composure. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who possesses or holds anything subject to the superior of another. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + possess. ] To be without, or to resign, possession of. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]