have

English Online Dictionary. What means have‎? What does have mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (stressed) IPA^(key): /hæv/
  • Homophone: halve (some accents)
  • Rhymes: -æv
• (unstressed) IPA^(key): /həv/, /əv/, /ə/
• (have to): (UK, US) IPA^(key): /hæf/, (UK) IPA^(key): /hæv/
• (obsolete, stressed) IPA^(key): /heɪv/

Etymology 1

From Middle English haven, from Old English habban (“to have”), from Proto-West Germanic *habbjan, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”), durative of *habjaną (“to lift, take up”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂pyéti, present tense of *keh₂p- (“to take, seize, catch”). Related to heave.

Since there is no common Indo-European root for a transitive possessive verb have (notice that Latin habeō is not etymologically related to English have), Proto-Indo-European probably lacked the have structure. Instead, the third person forms of be were used, with the possessor in dative case, compare Latin mihi est / sunt, literally to me is / are.

Alternative forms

• haue (alternative typography, obsolete)
• hae (Scottish-English)

Verb

have (third-person singular simple present has, present participle having, simple past and past participle had)

1. (transitive) To possess, own.

2. (transitive) To hold, as something at someone's disposal.

   (not necessarily one's own key)

3. (transitive) To include as a part, ingredient, or feature.

4. (transitive) Used to state the existence or presence of someone in a specified relationship with the subject.

5. (transitive) To consume or use up (a particular substance or resource, especially food or drink).

6. (transitive) To undertake or perform (an action or activity).

7. (transitive) To be scheduled to attend, undertake or participate in.

8. (transitive) To experience, go through, undergo.

9. (transitive) To be afflicted with, suffer from.

10. (auxiliary verb, taking a past participle) Used in forming the perfect aspect.

11. Used as an interrogative verb before a pronoun to form a tag question, echoing a previous use of 'have' as an auxiliary verb or, in certain cases, main verb. (For further discussion, see the appendix English tag questions.)

12. (auxiliary verb, taking a to-infinitive) See have to.

14. (transitive) To give birth to.

15. (informal, usually passive) To obtain.
16. (transitive) To engage in sexual intercourse with.
17. (transitive) To accept as a romantic partner.

18. (transitive with bare infinitive) To cause to, by a command, request or invitation.
19. (transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement) To cause to be.

20. (transitive with bare infinitive) To be affected by an occurrence. (Used in supplying a topic that is not a verb argument.)

21. (transitive with adjective or adjective-phrase complement) To depict as being.
22. (British, slang, transitive) To defeat in a fight; take.

23. (British, slang, transitive) To inflict punishment or retribution on.

24. (dated outside Ireland, transitive) To be able to speak (a language).

25. (transitive) To feel or be (especially painfully) aware of.

26. (informal, often passive, transitive) To trick, to deceive.

27. (transitive, in the negative, often in continuous tenses) To allow; to tolerate.
28. (transitive, often used in the negative) To believe, buy, be taken in by.

29. (transitive) To host someone; to take in as a guest.

30. (transitive) To get a reading, measurement, or result from an instrument or calculation.

31. (transitive, of a jury) To consider a court proceeding that has been completed; to begin deliberations on a case.

32. (transitive, birdwatching) To make an observation of (a bird species).
33. (transitive) To capture or actively hold someone's attention or interest.
    • 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure

      Thurs nite I went to see Lou Reed […] and Lou, oh God, he completely had me. I was lost at the foot of a god.

34. (transitive) To grasp the meaning of; comprehend.

Usage notes

In certain dialects, expressions, and literary use, the lexical have can be used without do-support, meaning the sentence Do you have an idea? can also be Have you an idea? This makes have the only lexical verb in Modern English that can function without it, aside from some nonce examples with other verbs in set phrases, as in What say you?, and aside from the verb be where this is considered lexical.

The auxiliary have which forms the perfect tense never uses do-support, so Have you seen it? cannot be Do you have seen it?.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (engage in sexual intercourse with): have one's way with, sleep with, take; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

have (plural haves)

1. (usually contrastive) A wealthy or privileged person.
2. (uncommon) One who has some (contextually specified) thing.

Antonyms

• have-not

See also

• auxiliary verb
• past tense
• perfect tense

References

Etymology 2

From have on (“to deceive”).

Noun

have (plural haves)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, informal) A fraud or deception; something misleading.

Anagrams

• evah

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hagi, from Proto-Germanic *hagô, cognate with Norwegian hage, Swedish hage, English haw, German Hag, Dutch haag.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaːvə/, [ˈhɛːʊ], [ˈhɛːʋə]

Noun

have c (singular definite haven, plural indefinite haver)

1. garden
2. orchard
3. allotment

Inflection

References

• “have,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2

From Old Norse hafa (“to have, wear, carry”), from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have, hold”), cognate with English have, German haben. The Germanic words are from Proto-Indo-European *kap- and are not related to Latin habeō.

Alternative forms

• ha'

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ha(ːˀ)/, [(ˈ)hæ], [ˈhɛˀ], (formal) IPA^(key): /ˈhaːvə/, [ˈhɛːʊ], [ˈhɛːʋə]

Verb

have (present tense har, past tense havde, past participle haft)

2. (transitive) to have, have got
3. (auxiliary, with the past participle) have (forms perfect tense)

Conjugation

Derived terms

• have det
• have for
• have på
• have tilbage

References

• “have,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haːvə/, [ˈhæːʋə], [ˈhæːʊ]

Noun

have n

1. indefinite plural of hav

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch have, derived from the verb hebben (“to have”).

Pronunciation

Noun

have f (plural haven)

1. property, possession

Derived terms

• haveloos

Descendants

• Afrikaans: hawe

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈha.u̯e/, [ˈhäu̯ɛ]
• (Affectation) (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈa.u̯eː/, [ˈäu̯eː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.ve/, [ˈäːve]
• See pronunciation note at the headword's page.

Interjection

have

1. Alternative spelling of avē (“hail!”)

Usage notes

• Sometimes prescribed over the much more common avē.

Middle English

Verb

have

1. Alternative form of haven (“to have”)

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse háfr (“net”), from Proto-Germanic *hēb-, *hēf-, an ablaut form of *hafjaną (“to have; take; catch”). Related to English dialectal haaf (“a pock-net”).

Pronunciation

Noun

have f (plural haves)

1. (Jersey) shrimp net

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• hava (a and split infinitives)
• ha

Etymology

From Old Norse hafa, from Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to have”), durative of Proto-Germanic *habjaną (“to lift, take up”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂p- (“to take, seize, catch”).

Verb

have (present tense hev, past tense havde, past participle havt, passive infinitive havast, present participle havande, imperative hav)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of ha

Swedish

Etymology

Likely unadapted borrowing from Danish have.

Noun

have c

1. (obsolete Halland dialect) Synonym of hage (“pasture”)

Derived terms

• Haverdal (a town)

Tarantino

Verb

have

1. third-person singular present indicative of avere

Yola

Verb

have

1. Alternative form of ha

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 102