possession
/pəˈzɛʃn̩/ noun B1- A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights.
- Something that is owned. · The car quickly became his most prized possession.· I would gladly give all of my worldly possessions just to be able to do that.
- An ownership; a taking, a holding, keeping something as one's own. · The car is in my possession.· I'm in possession of the car.
- A territory under the rule of another country. · Réunion is the largest of France's overseas possessions.
- The condition or affliction of being possessed by a demon or other supernatural entity. · Back then, people with psychiatric disorders were sometimes thought to be victims of demonic possession.
- The condition of being under the control of strong emotion or madness.
- A control of the ball; the opportunity to be on the offensive. · The scoreboard shows a little football symbol next to the name of the team that has possession.
- A disposal of the ball during a game, i.e. a kick or a handball.
Plural possessions
From the library
“Ah,” said the Marquise de Saint-Méran, a woman with a stern, forbidding eye, though still noble and distinguished in appearance, despite her fifty years—“ah, these revolutionists, who have driven us from those very possessions they afterwards purchased for a mere trifle during the Reign of Terror, would be compelled to own, were they here, that all true devotion was on our side, since we were content to follow the fortunes of a falling monarch, while they, on the contrary, made their fortune by worshipping the rising sun; yes, yes, they could not help admitting that the king, for whom we sacrificed rank, wealth, and station was truly our ‘Louis the well-beloved,’ while their wretched usurper has been, and ever will be, to them their evil genius, their ‘Napoleon the accursed.’ Am I not right, Villefort?”
A LION and a Bear seized a Kid at the same moment, and fought fiercely for its possession.
The house had been untenanted for some years and was threatening to moulder into a picturesque decay when the Douglases took possession of it.
Should it not be found in the possession of father or son, then it will assuredly be discovered in the cabin belonging to the said Dantès on board the Pharaon.’”
Learn possession in real texts
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