Have (hăv), v. t. [imp.
& p. p. Had (hăd); p. pr. & vb.
n. Having. Indic. present, I
have, thou hast, he has; we, ye, they
have.] [OE. haven, habben, AS. habben
(imperf. hæfde, p. p. gehæfd); akin to OS.
hebbian, D. hebben, OFries. hebba, OHG.
habēn, 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.
I 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]
☞ 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.