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To seize and hold by clasping or embracing with the fingers or arms; to catch to take possession of. Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff. Shak.

Land; estate; possession; field; esp. (pl.), the gardens, lawns, fields, etc., belonging to a homestead; as, the grounds of the estate are well kept. Thy next design is on thy neighbor's grounds. Dryden. 4.

To look upon with desire to possess or to appropriate; to envy (one) the possession of; to begrudge; to covet; to give with reluctance; to desire to get back again; -- followed by the direct object only, or by both the direct and indirect objects. Tis not in thee To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train. Shak. I hav…

t of (a debt) or the performance of (a duty) by another person; to undertake to secure (a possession, right, claim, etc.) to another against a specified contingency, or at all avents; to give a guarantee concerning; to engage, assure, or secure as a thing that may be depended on; to warrant; as, to guarantee the execut…

One who engages to secure another in any right or possession.

luding the Gymnotus electricus, or electric eel. It has a greenish, eel-like body, and is possessed of electric power. One fearful shock, fearful but momentary, like from the electric blow of the gymnotus. De Quincey.

ion or state of a person or thing, either natural or acquired, regarded as something had, possessed, and firmly retained; as, a religious habit; his habit is morose; elms have a spreading habit; esp., physical temperament or constitution; as, a full habit of body.

One who possesses or gives half only; one who shares. [Obs.] Bp. Montagu.

Celtic or Alpine race. It was characterized by expert use of bronze, a knowledge of iron, possession of domestic animals, agriculture, and artistic skill and sentiment in manufacturing pottery, ornaments, etc.

Personal possession; ownership; hence, control; direction; management; -- usually in the plural. "Receiving in hand one year's tribute." Knolles. Albinus . . . found means to keep in his hands the goverment of Britain. Milton.

of a certain amount of time or distance in starting, granted in a race to the competitor possessing inferior advantages; or an additional weight or other hindrance imposed upon the one possessing superior advantages, in order to equalize, as much as possible, the chances of success; as, the handicap was five seconds,…

condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness.

To hold in possession or control; to own; as, he has a farm.

A possessor; a holder. Shak.

Possession; goods; estate. I 'll lend you something; my having is not much. Shak.

One who inherits, or is entitled to succeed to the possession of, any property after the death of its owner; one on whom the law bestows the title or property of another at the death of the latter. I am my father's heir and only son. Shak.

hellebore, and extracted as a white crystalline substance with a sharp tingling taste. It possesses the essential virtues of the plant; -- called also elleborin.

The form of the objective and the possessive case of the personal pronoun she; as, I saw her with her purse out.

A possession; the Israelites, as God's chosen people; also, a flock under pastoral charge. Joel iii. 2. 1 Peter v. 3.

The daughters of Hesperus, or Night (brother of Atlas), and fabled possessors of a garden producing golden apples, in Africa, at the western extremity of the known world. To slay the guarding dragon and get some of these apples was one of the labors of Hercules. Called also Atlantides.