have
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
birdwatching
natural-sciences
ornithology
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kap-der.
Proto-Germanic *habjaną
Proto-West Germanic *habbjan
Old English habban
Middle English haven
English have
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 *kapyéti, an imperfective formation to the root *kap- (“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.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots hae (“to have”), North Frisian haa, heewe (“to have”), Saterland Frisian häbe, hääbe (“to have”), West Frisian hawwe (“to have”), Afrikaans hê (“to have”), Alemannic German haa, heen, hoh, hä, häbä, hè (“to have”), Bavarian hobm, hobn, hoom, håbn (“to have”), Cimbrian haban, hen, håm (“to have”), Dutch and Low German hebben (“to have”), German haben (“to have”), Limburgish haane, höbbe (“to have”), Luxembourgish hunn (“to have”), Mòcheno hom (“to have”), Vilamovian hon (“to have”), Yiddish האָבן (hobn, “to have”), Danish have (“to have”), Elfdalian åvå (“to have”), Faroese hava (“to have”), Icelandic hafa (“to have”), Norwegian Bokmål ha (“to have”), Norwegian Nynorsk ha, hava, have, hå (“to have”), Swedish ha, hafva, hava (“to have”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (haban, “to have”), Albanian kap (“to grab, catch, grip”), Latin capiō (“take”, verb), Russian хапать (xapatʹ, “to seize”).
Inflected forms:
form: has
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: having
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: had
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: had
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: have
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: have
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: had
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: have
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: hast
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: had
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: hadst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: has
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: have
pos: verb
tags: dialectal
present
singular
third-person
form: hath
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: had
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: have
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: had
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: have
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: had
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: have
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: having
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: haveing
pos: verb
tags: archaic
participle
present
form: had
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: 've
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: haue
pos: verb
tags: alternative
alternative
obsolete
form: hae
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: hav
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: haves
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: haue
pos: noun
tags: alternative
alternative
obsolete
form: hae
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: hav
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To possess, own.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I have a house and a car.
gloss: To hold, as something at someone's disposal.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Look what I have here—a frog I found on the street!
Do you have the key?
gloss: To include as a part, ingredient, or feature.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The stove has a handle. The shirt has sleeves.
The words cow and dog have three letters.
A government has three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial.
The movie has lots of action.
gloss: Used to state the existence or presence of someone in a specified relationship with the subject.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I have two sisters.
She doesn’t have any friends.
I have a really mean boss.
gloss: To consume or use up (a particular substance or resource, especially food or drink).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I have breakfast at six o'clock.
You've already had five drinks!
She's had more than enough time already.
gloss: To undertake or perform (an action or activity).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Can I have a look at that?
He's having a tantrum about it.
I’m going to have a bath now.
Let’s have a game of tiddlywinks.
gloss: To be scheduled to attend, undertake or participate in.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: What class do you have right now? I have English.
Fred won’t be able to come to the party; he has a meeting that day.
I have a lot of work to do.
gloss: To experience, go through, undergo.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: We had a hard year last year, with the locust swarms and all that.
He had surgery on his hip yesterday.
I’m having the time of my life!
I hope you have a wonderful birthday.
This year we're having Christmas with my wife's family in Thunder Bay.
gloss: To be afflicted with, suffer from.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He had a cold last week.
gloss: Used in forming the perfect aspect.
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
with-past-participle
examples: I have already eaten today.
Mom's gone real mad, she has.
The universe is expanding and has been since its beginning.
I will have left by the time you get here.
This is the first (and last) time I've eaten lobster.
I’ve worked here for exactly four years, one month and 10 days.
The dogs have eaten your dinner, and I ate the last of the frozen burgers this morning.
Uncle José has crashed the car again. He ran into a tree.
The American Revolution has influenced every democratic process in Europe since the 19th c.
I'm going to take a bath after I've answered these emails.
gloss: 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.)
pos: verb
examples: They haven’t eaten dinner yet, have they?
Your wife hasn’t been reading that nonsense, has she?
He has some money, hasn’t he?
gloss: See have to.
pos: verb
tags: auxiliary
with-infinitive
with-to
examples: I have to go.
gloss: To give birth to.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The couple always wanted to have children.
My wife is having the baby right now!
My mother had me when she was 25.
gloss: To obtain.
pos: verb
tags: informal
passive
usually
examples: The substance you describe can't be had at any price.
Out there is a fortune waiting to be had / You think I'll let it go you're mad / You've got another thing comin'
gloss: To engage in sexual intercourse with.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He’s always bragging about how many women he’s had.
Tame midweek stress the fun way. Have each other before dinner to reconnect after a long day.
gloss: To accept as a romantic partner.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Despite my protestations of love, she would not have me.
gloss: To cause to, by a command, request or invitation.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
with-infinitive
examples: They had me feed their dog while they were out of town.
Her very boyfriend is the person the criminal has do most of her dirty deeds.
The floor has had oil dropped all over it.
His English is still in its beginning stages, like my Creole, but he was able to translate some Creole songs that he's written into English—not the best English, but English nonetheless. He had me correct the translations. That kind of thing is very interesting to me. When I was learning Spanish, I would often take my favorite songs and try to translate them.
gloss: To cause to be.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
with-adjective
examples: He had him arrested for trespassing.
I'd better have my watch repaired today: tomorrow I have to have my hair cut before having pictures taken for my passport.
The lecture’s ending had the entire audience in tears.
Jim has his eyes closed.
gloss: To be affected by an occurrence. (Used in supplying a topic that is a small clause.)
pos: verb
tags: transitive
with-infinitive
examples: The hospital had several patients contract pneumonia last week.
I’ve had three people today tell me my hair looks nice.
gloss: To depict as being.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
with-adjective
examples: Their stories differed; he said he’d been at work when the incident occurred, but her statement had him at home that entire evening.
Anton Rogan, 8, was one of the runners-up in the Tick Tock Box short story competition, not Anton Rogers as we had it.
gloss: To defeat in a fight; take.
pos: verb
tags: UK
slang
transitive
examples: I could have him!
gloss: To inflict punishment or retribution on.
pos: verb
tags: UK
slang
transitive
examples: When we did a rerecorded version for Top of the Pops, the Musicians' Union bloke said, "If I think you're making strings sounds out of a synthesiser, I'm going to have you. Video Killed the Radio Star is putting musicians out of business."
You broke the window! Teacher’ll have you for that!
gloss: To be able to speak (a language).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I have no German.
gloss: To feel or be (especially painfully) aware of.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Dan certainly has arms today, probably from scraping paint off four columns the day before.
gloss: To trick, to deceive.
pos: verb
tags: informal
often
passive
transitive
examples: I bought a laptop online but it never arrived. I think I've been had!
You had me alright! I never would have thought that was just a joke.
gloss: To allow; to tolerate.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The child screamed incessantly for his mother to buy him a toy, but she wasn't having any of it.
I asked my dad if I could go to the concert this Thursday, but he wouldn't have it since it's a school night.
“ You're a very naughty boy. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. I won't have you chasing the geese!”
gloss: To believe, buy, be taken in by.
pos: verb
tags: often
transitive
examples: I made up an excuse as to why I was out so late, but my wife wasn't having any of it.
gloss: To host someone; to take in as a guest.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Thank you for having me!
gloss: To get a reading, measurement, or result from an instrument or calculation.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: What do you have for problem two?
I have two contacts on my scope.
gloss: To consider a court proceeding that has been completed; to begin deliberations on a case.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: We’ll schedule closing arguments for Thursday, and the jury will have the case by that afternoon.
gloss: To make an observation of (a bird species).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: For some reason, "I had a Freckled Duck today" never seems to work as a pick-up line.
gloss: To capture or actively hold someone's attention or interest.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To grasp the meaning of; comprehend.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Ah! Now I have it!
gloss: A wealthy or privileged person.
pos: noun
tags: contrastive
idiomatic
usually
examples: A good credit rating can mean the difference between being a have or a have not.
While these stories serve to make us conscious of the implications of being a “have” or a “have-not,” as with all good literature, they do much more than that. They provide a glimpse into lives that we might never encounter elsewhere.
A longtime advocate for racial and social justice with a degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, Walker, 40, got into politics at the urging of Edwards, an African American woman widely praised as a bridge-builder between the city’s haves and have-nots.
gloss: One who has some (contextually specified) thing.
pos: noun
tags: idiomatic
uncommon
examples: To find out whether you are a have or a have not, did you understand the malo and Brett sentence a few lines back? If no, this doesn't make any difference to me, as you are the proud possessor of something the 'haves' haven't got. You know exactly what you like and why you like it. The 'haves' pretend to like and understand everything, which by the way is impossible. They deliberate over choosing a bottle in the shop for hours, ...
Generally, I can assure you that a woman's posterior causes a stir, whether she's considered a have or a have not. But in most cases, men gravitate toward a pair of prominent gluteus muscles because they find this display appealing. This prominent protrusion can make a pair of jeans look like it was painted on, above just being good to look at. And by the way, it also incites some backshot (a Caribbean term for a well-known sex position) and spanking tendencies during sexual activity ...
The question you must answer is, “Do you have Jesus?” In Jesus, you have eternal life. If you do not have Jesus—if you have not received Him—you do not have “the life.” Are you a “have,” or are you a “have not”? That is a vital decision every person must make—a critical issue you have to resolve for yourself.
Synonyms: sleep with
take
Related words: partake
auxiliary verb
past tense
perfect tense
Derived words: behave
haggaday
havable
have a ball
have a cow
have a fall
have against
have a good weekend
have a lend of
have a lot of time
have a moment
have a monk on
have a shit
have a short memory
have a sixpenny bit up one's backside
have a thing going on
have a tinkle
have a turtle's head
have at you
have a way about one
have a whack at
have down
have ears
have got it made
have had enough
have had it
have it all
have it in for
have it off
have it rough
have no fear of ice cold beer
have none of something
have no right
have nothing on
have nothing to lose
have nots
have off
have on
have one more time
have one's bread buttered on both sides
have one's fill
have one's finger on the trigger
have one's fingers in the till
have one's hump up
have one's shit together
haves
have shit on
have something over someone
have the ball in one's court
have the cards
have the hang of
have the law of
have the legs of someone
have the right time
have to
have wind in one's jaw
having it
havingness
having said that
heft
Houston, we have a problem
let's be having you
mishave
must-have
must have been the wind
nice-to-have
not have a clue
person having ordinary skill in the art
stranger things have happened
those that have, get
time flies when you're having fun
-'ve
we have always been at war with Eastasia
we have company
Translations: