Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Possess

Possess (?; 277) , transitive verb

[Latin possessus, past participle of possidere to have, possess, from an inseparable prep. (compare Position) + sedere to sit. See Sit.]

1.
To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold.
Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. — Jer. xxxii. 15
Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offense returning, to regain Love once possessed. — Milton
2.
To have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book.
I am yours, and all that I possess. — Shakespeare
3.
To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize.
How... to possess the purpose they desired. — Spenser
4.
To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc.
Weakness possesseth me. — Shakespeare
Those which were possessed with devils. — Matt. iv. 24
For ten inspired, ten thousand are possessed. — Roscommon
5.
To put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; -- followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively.
I have possessed your grace of what I purpose. — Shakespeare
Record a gift... of all he dies possessed Unto his son. — Shakespeare
We possessed our selves of the kingdom of Naples. — Addison
To possess our minds with an habitual good intention. — Addison