Verb

(es)

To have; to have ownership of.

* 1818 , (Mary Shelley), (Frankenstein) , Volume 3, Chapter 7:

[...], the companions of our childhood always possess a certain power over our minds, which hardly any later friend can obtain.

* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)

, chapter=1 citation , passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}

To take control of someone's body or mind, especially in a supernatural manner.

To vest ownership in (someone); to give someone power or knowledge; to acquaint; to inform.

* 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,

LEONATO. I cannot bid you bid my daughter live;

That were impossible; but, I pray you both,

Possess the people in Messina here

How innocent she died;

* 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Twelfth Night) , II, 3

[Sir Toby Belch] Possess' us, '''possess' us ; tell us something of him.

Verb

(label) To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).

*(John Milton) (1608-1674)

*:To second, or oppose, or undertake / The perilous attempt.

(label) To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).

:

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:I'll undertake to land them on our coast.

(label) To overtake on the wrong side.

:

To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.

*, Bk.VII:

*:"I have now aspyed one knyght," he seyde, "that woll play hys play at the justys, I undirtake ."

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:And those two counties I will undertake / Your grace shall well and quietly enjoiy.

*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)

*:And he was not right fat, I undertake .

* (1665-1728)

*:I dare undertake they will not lose their labour.

To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.

*:

*:there came fourty knyghtes to sire Darras // So sire Tristram endured there grete payne / for sekenesse had vndertake hym / and that is the grettest payne a prysoner maye haue

(label) To assume, as a character; to take on.

:(Shakespeare)

(label) To engage with; to attack.

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.

(label) To have knowledge of; to hear.

:(Spenser)

(label) To have or take charge of.

*(Geoffrey Chaucer) (c.1343-1400)

*:Keep well those that ye undertake .

*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

*:who undertakes you to your end