AskOxford Logo Space
  VIEW BASKET  
Space Home
Space
Top Search Space Space
Bottom Space
Curve low Blue
Space
Space
HOME ·  SHOP ·  EDUCATION ·  PRESS ROOM ·  CONTACT US · 
SELECT VIEW
Space UK and the Rest of the World Space USA Space
You are currently in the US view
Space Space

Jacket image of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary

 

have

  • verb (has; past and past part. had) 1 possess, own, or hold. 2 experience; undergo: have difficulty. 3 be able to make use of. 4 (have to) be obliged to; must. 5 perform the action indicated by the noun specified: he had a look round. 6 demonstrate (a personal attribute). 7 suffer from (an illness or disability). 8 cause to be in a particular state. 9 cause to be done for one by someone else. place, hold, or keep in a particular position. be the recipient or host of. eat or drink. (not have) refuse to tolerate. (be had) informal be cheated or deceived.

  • auxiliary verb used with a past participle to form the perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect tenses, and the conditional mood.

  • noun (usu. in phrase the haves and the have-nots) informal people with plenty of money.

  — PHRASES have had it informal 1 be beyond repair or revival. 2 be unable to tolerate any longer. have (got) it in for informal behave in a hostile way towards. have it out informal attempt to resolve a dispute by confrontation. have on Brit. informal try to make (someone) believe something untrue, especially as a joke. have up Brit. informal bring before a court to answer for an alleged offence.

  — ORIGIN Old English.

 

Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary

 

About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day

Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names
 

   

Ask The Experts


Better Writing


World of Words


Games


Global English


Foreign Languages

links
Space
Space Redarrow Space
Space
Space Redarrow Space
Space
Space Redarrow Space
Space
Space Redarrow Space
Space
Space Redarrow Space
Space
Space Redarrow Space
Space
Space dotted
CurveUp
Blue RightDown
Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary Space
Dotted
Space
PRIVACY POLICY AND LEGAL NOTICE  Content and Graphics © Copyright  Oxford University Press, 2009.  All rights reserved.    
Space Oxford University Press
dotted
Space
Space