Have (hav) , transitive verb
[Old English haven, habben, Anglo-Saxon habben (imperf. hafde, p. p. gehafd); akin to Old Saxon hebbian, Dutch hebben, OFries. hebba, Old High German habēn, German haben, Icelandic hafa, Swedish hafva, Danish have, Gothic haban, and prob. to Latin habere, whence French avoir. Compare 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. — Shakespeare
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? — Shakespeare
4.
To get possession of; to obtain; to get. — Shakespeare
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. — Shakespeare
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? — Shakespeare
12.
To put in an awkward position; to have the advantage of; as, that is where he
had him.
[Slang] Myself for such a face had boldly died. — Tennyson
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.
Collocations (6)
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 , 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, transitive verb