Possess, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Possessed; p. pr. & vb. n. Possessing.]
Etymology: [L. possessus, p. p. of possidere to have, possess, from an inseparable prep. (cf. Position) + sedere to sit. See Sit.]
1. To occupy in person; to hold or actually have in one's own keeping; to have and to hold. Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. Jer. xxxii. 15. Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power, After offense returning, to regain Love once possessed. Milton.
2. To have the legal title to; to have a just right to; to be master of; to own; to have; as, to possess property, an estate, a book. I am yours, and all that I possess. Shak.
3. To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize. How . . . to possess the purpose they desired. Spenser.
4. To enter into and influence; to control the will of; to fill; to affect; -- said especially of evil spirits, passions, etc. "Weakness possesseth me." Shak. Those which were possessed with devils. Matt. iv. 24. For ten inspired, ten thousand are possessed. Roscommon.
2 more senses
5. To put in possession; to make the owner or holder of property, power, knowledge, etc.; to acquaint; to inform; -- followed by of or with before the thing possessed, and now commonly used reflexively. I have possessed your grace of what I purpose. Shak. Record a gift . . . of all he dies possessed Unto his son. Shak. We possessed our selves of the kingdom of Naples. Addison. To possess our minds with an habitual good intention. Addison.
Syn. -- To have; hold; occupy; control; own. -- Possess, Have. Have is the more general word. To possess denotes to have as a property. It usually implies more permanence or definiteness of control or ownership than is involved in having. A man does not possess his wife and children: they are (so to speak) part of himself. For the same reason, we have the faculties of reason, understanding, will, sound judgment, etc.: they are exercises of the mind, not possessions.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for possess; he lists it under have.
Where he writes about it:
To possess a thing is to have the ownership with control and enjoyment of it. — from have
To own is to have the right of property in; to possess is to have that right in actual exercise; to occupy is to have possession and use, with some degree of permanency, with or without ownership. — from have
To be in possession differs from possess in that to possess denotes both right and fact, while to be in possession denotes simply the fact with no affirmation as to the right. — from have