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to one's own will or caprice, and therefore conveying a notion of a tendency to abuse the possession of power. Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused licentiousness. Washington.

; steel-clad. This day will be launched . . . the first armor-plated steam frigate in the possession of Great Britain. Times (Dec. 29, 1860).

person, or the seizure of his effects; esp., a process by which money or movables in the possession of a third party are attached.

To gain or obtain possession of; to acquire. [Obs. with a material object.] Chaucer.

Property; possession. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

In concealment or reserve; in one's own possession; as, to keep back the truth; to keep back part of the money due to another.

The person to whom goods are committed in trust, and who has a temporary possession and a qualified property in them, for the purposes of the trust. Blackstone.

e then completes the purchase; i.e., the bargain vests the use, and the statute vests the possession. Blackstone. -- Into the bargain, over and above what is stipulated; besides. -- To sell bargains, to make saucy ( usually indelicate) repartees. [Obs.] Swift. -- To strike a bargain, to reach or ratify an agreement.…

To grudge; to envy the possession of.

Holding some office or valuable possession, in subordination to another; holding under a feudal or other superior; having a dependent and secondary possession. A feudatory or beneficiary king of England. Bacon.

A learning of the mind; propensity or prepossession toward an object or view, not leaving the mind indifferent; bent inclination. Strong love is a bias upon the thoughts. South. Morality influences men's lives, and gives a bias to all their actions. Locke.

l for the master to sign two, three, or four copies of the bill; one of which he keeps in possession, one is kept by the shipper, and one is sent to the consignee of the goods. -- Bill of mortality, an official statement of the number of deaths in a place or district within a given time; also, a district required to b…

Any right, privilege, or possession to which a person is entitled by birth, such as an estate descendible by law to an heir, or civil liberty under a free constitution; esp. the rights or inheritance of the first born. Lest there be any . . . profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Heb.…

To steal; to take possession of. [Slang]

otiator, between other persons, for a compensation commonly called brokerage. He takes no possession, as broker, of the subject matter of the negotiation. He generally contracts in the names of those who employ him, and not in his own. Story.

Ability; power pertaining to, or resulting from, the possession of strength, wealth, or talent; possibility of being or of doing. The capacity of blessing the people. Alex. Hamilton. A cause with such capacities endued. Blackmore.

The act of seizing by force, or getting possession of by superior power or by stratagem; as, the capture of an enemy, a vessel, or a criminal. Even with regard to captures made at sea. Bluckstone.

To get possession of by force; to capture. The town would have been carried in the end. Bacon.

To get possession of; to attain. Torment myself to catch the English throne. Shak.

The possession or revenue of a chapel. Johnson.