prepossess
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌpɹiːpəˈzɛs/
ipa: /ˌpɹipəˈzɛs/
rhymes: -ɛs
Forms: form: prepossesses
form: prepossessing
form: prepossessed
form: prepossessed
Etymology: From pre- (prefix meaning ‘before, earlier in time’) + possess.
Cognates
* Late Latin prepossessus (“seized beforehand”)
Senses: examples: text: [I]ndeed the Legate [Alberic of Ostia] came not vvith a virgin-judgement, but raviſhed vvith prejudice; being prepoſſeſſed vvith this intent to diſpoſſeſſe him [Rodolphus, or Ralph of Domfront] of his place.
ref: 1639, Thomas Fuller, “The Church-story during this Kings Reigne; The Remarkable Ruine of Rodolphus Patriarch of Antioch”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge [and sold by John Williams, London], →OCLC, book II, page 70:
text: A ſurer ſigne of his loſt ſhame he could not have given, then ſeeking thus unſeaſonably to prepoſſeſſe Men of his modeſty.
ref: 1642 April, John Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus; republished in A Complete Collection of the Historical, Political, and Miscellaneous Works of John Milton, […], volume I, Amsterdam [actually London: s.n.], 1698, →OCLC, page 172:
text: […] I vvas no novice in theſe matters, ſince he had taken me out of a common bavvdy-houſe: nor had I ſaid one thing to prepoſſeſs him of my virginity; […]
ref: 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 105:
english: Fanny Hill
translation: Fanny Hill
glosses: Chiefly followed by by or with: to preoccupy (someone) in an emotional or mental way, so as to preclude other things.
examples: text: So Juſtice, which ſhould runne downe like a ſtreame, though it ariſeth out of a pure Fountaine, out of the breaſt of a ſincere and incorrupted Judge; yet if formerly it hath paſſed through the Mines of Gold and Silver, I meane, through bad Servants, who have taken bribes to prepoſſeſſe the Judge their Maſter with the prejudice of falſe informations, Juſtice hereby may be ſtrangely perverted and corrupted.
ref: c. 1631 (date written; published 1654), Thomas Fuller, “A Comment on Ruth”, in John Eglington Bailey, William E[dward] A[rmytage] Axon, editors, The Collected Sermons of Thomas Fuller, D.D. […], volume I, London: The Gresham Press; Unwin Brothers, […]; Pickering & Chatto, […], published 1891, →OCLC, chapter II, page 79:
text: M. Krempe was a little squat man, with a gruff voice and a repulsive countenance; the teacher, therefore, did not prepossess me in favour of his doctrine. Besides, I had a contempt for the uses of modern natural philosophy.
ref: 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 71:
text: Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. […] She looked around expectantly, and recognizing Mrs. Cooke's maid, who had stepped forward to relieve hers of the shawls, Miss Thorn greeted her with a smile which greatly prepossessed us in her favor.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 68:
glosses: To cause (someone) to have a previous inclination against, for, or to something; to bias or prejudice; specifically, to induce in (someone) a favourable opinion beforehand, or at the outset.
examples: text: [T]his brief Inventory I have here given as preparatory to vvhat follovvs, and to pre-poſſeſs the Reader, 1. That a natural Indagation according to the light of natural Reaſon touching the Origination of ſuch a Creature as this, is no contemptible or unvvorthy enquiry.
ref: a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, “Touching the Excellency of the Humane Nature in General”, in The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, →OCLC, section I, page 69:
text: VVith partial eye vve're apt to ſee / The man of noble pedigree. / VVe're prepoſſeſt my lord inherits / In ſome degree his grandſire's merits; / For thoſe vve find upon record, / But find him nothing but my lord.
ref: 1738, [John] Gay, “Fable III. The Baboon and the Poultry. To a Levee-hunter.”, in Fables, volume II, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, […]; and T[homas] Cox, […], →OCLC, pages 17–18:
text: […] Fanny and Mrs. Ferrars were both strongly prepossessed that neither she nor her daughters were such kind of women as Fanny would like to associate with.
ref: 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 217:
glosses: To cause (someone) to think a certain way.
examples: text: All paſſages out of their campe Martius [Gaius Lucius Marcius Septimus] hath prepoſſeſſed, ſo that there is no vvay to eſcape, ſaue by leaping dovvne the Rampart: […]
ref: 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], “Of the Second Punick Warre”, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 1st book, §. XI (Strange Reports of the Roman Victories in Spaine, before Asdrubal the Sonne of Amilcar, Followed thence His Brother Hannibal into Italie), page 478:
text: Hope is that vvhich antedates, and prepoſſeſſes a future good; that ſets it in the vievv of the vvill, vvhich alone puts all the faculties in motion.
ref: a. 1717 (date written), Robert South, “Sermon II. Job viii. 13.”, in Five Additional Volumes of Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume X, London: […] Charles Bathurst, […], published 1744, →OCLC, page 42:
glosses: To occupy or possess (something) beforehand.
examples: text: to prepossess oneself of land
qualifier: chiefly passive voice
glosses: Chiefly followed by of or with: to cause (oneself) to obtain possession of something beforehand, or ahead of someone else.
Derived terms: word: prepossessed
word: prepossessedly
word: prepossessedness
word: prepossessing
word: prepossessingly
word: prepossessingness
word: prepossession
word: prepossessor
word: unprepossessing
word: unprepossessingly
word: unprepossessingness