Pos*ses"sion , v. t. To invest with property. [Obs.]
Pos*ses"sion (?), n. [F. possession, L. possessio.]
1. The act or state of possessing, or holding as
one's own.
2. (Law) The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy; ownership, whether rightful or wrongful.
&fist; Possession may be either
actual or constructive; actual, when a party
has the immediate occupancy; constructive, when he has only the right to
such occupancy.
3. The thing possessed; that which any one
occupies, owns, or controls; in the plural, property in the aggregate; wealth; dominion; as, foreign
possessions.
When the young man
heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.
Matt. xix.
22. Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.
Acts v. 1. The house of Jacob shall possess their
possessions.
Ob. 17.
4. The state of being possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession.
How long hath
this possession held the man?
Shak. To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy. -- To put in possession. (a) To invest with ownership or occupancy; to provide or furnish with; as, to put
one in possession of facts or information.
(b) (Law)
To place one in charge
of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. -- To take possession, to enter upon, or to bring within one's power or occupancy. -- Writ of possession (Law),
a precept directing a sheriff to
put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry.
Hear it pronounced