a. Controlled by an evil spirit or by evil passions; wild. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Embossed; also, bossy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Boss a stud. ] (Zool.) A rudimental antler of a young male of the red deer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Colossal. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Neut., fr. L. colosseus gigantic. See Coliseum. ] The amphitheater of Vespasian in Rome. [ Also written Coliseum. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. AS. cotsetla cottager, G. kossat, kothsasse, fr. kot, koth E. (cot) hut, and cf. also E. cade, a., cot a cade lamb. ] A lamb reared without the aid of the dam. Hence: A pet, in general. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To treat as a pet; to fondle. [ 1913 Webster ]

She was cosseted and posseted and prayed over and made much of. O. W. Holmes.

‖n. [ F. ] One of the small chips or slices into which beets are cut in sugar making. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ F., crosier, hooked stick. ] The implement with which the ball is thrown and caught in the game of lacrosse. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ F., dim. of crosse. See Crosier. ] (Arch.) (a) A return in one of the corners of the architrave of a door or window; -- called also ancon, ear, elbow. (b) The shoulder of a joggled keystone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dispossessed p. pr. & vb. n. Dispossessing. ] [ Pref. dis- + possess: cf. F. déposséder. ] To put out of possession; to deprive of the actual occupancy of, particularly of land or real estate; to disseize; to eject; -- usually followed by of before the thing taken away; as, to dispossess a king of his crown. [ 1913 Webster ]

Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. physically or spiritually homeless or deprived of security.
Syn. -- homeless, roofless. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

made a living out of shepherding dispossessed people from one country to another James Stern

n. [ Cf. F. dépossession. ] 1. The act of putting out of possession; the state of being dispossessed. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) The putting out of possession, wrongfully or otherwise, of one who is in possession of a freehold, no matter in what title; -- called also ouster. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who dispossesses. Cowley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Dosel, n. ] Same as Dorsal, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. dosserum, or F.dossier bundle of papers, part of a basket resting on the back, fr. L. dorsum back. See Dorsal, and cf. Dosel. ] [ Written also dorser and dorsel. ] 1. A pannier, or basket. [ 1913 Webster ]

To hire a ripper's mare, and buy new dossers. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A hanging tapestry; a dorsal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. one who double-crosses another; a person who says one thing and does another.
Syn. -- double-dealer, betrayer, traitor. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Cf. Drazel. ] A slut; a hussy; a drazel. [ Obs. ] Warner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Formed or covered with bosses or raised figures. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having a part projecting like the boss of a shield. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Swollen; protuberant. [ Obs. ] “An embossed carbuncle.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who embosses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who copies a writing in large, fair characters. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who takes the whole; a person who purchases such quantities of articles in a market as to raise the price; a forestaller. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. en- + moss. ] Covered with moss; mossed. Keats. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Ex + osseous. ] Boneless. “Exosseous animals. ” Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Holding or held formerly in possession. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Preoccupied; prepossessed; preëngaged. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not extremely forepossessed with prejudice. Bp. Sanderson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. fossa, fr. fodere, fossum, to dig. ] 1. (Fort.) A ditch or moat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Anat.) See Fossa. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fosse road. See Fosseway. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A faucet. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ F., dim. of fosse a fosse. ] 1. A little hollow; hence, a dimple. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A small, deep-centered ulcer of the transparent cornea. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One of the great military roads constructed by the Romans in England and other parts of Europe; -- so called from the fosse or ditch on each side for keeping it dry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See 1st Gloss. ] A polisher; one who gives a luster. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See 3d Gloss. ] A writer of glosses; a scholiast; a commentator. L. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L. ] In possibility; possible, although not yet in existence or come to pass; -- contradistinguished from in esse. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Pref. inter- + osseous: cf. F. interosseux. ] (Anat.) Situated between bones; as, an interosseous ligament. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. la crosse, lit., the crosier, hooked stick. Cf. Crosier. ] A game of ball, originating among the North American Indians, now the popular field sport of Canada, and played also in England and the United States. Each player carries a long-handled racket, called a “crosse”. The ball is not handled but caught with the crosse and carried on it, or tossed from it, the object being to carry it or throw it through one of the goals placed at opposite ends of the field. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. something lost, especially money lost at gambling. Inverse of winnings.
Syn. -- losings. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. See Molossus. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Molasses. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;. ] A prophetic or ominous utterance. [ R. & Obs. ] Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A fish having a bony skeleton; a teleost. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. os bone. ] (Physiol. Chem.) The organic basis of bone tissue; the residue after removal of the mineral matters from bone by dilute acid; in embryonic tissue, the substance in which the mineral salts are deposited to form bone; bone collagen; -- called also ostein. Chemically it is the same as collagen. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. [ F. ] 1. A little bone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The internal bone, or shell, of a cuttlefish. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. osseus, from os, ossis bone; akin to Gr. 'oste`on, Skr. asthi. Cf. Oyster. ] Composed of bone; resembling bone; capable of forming bone; bony; ossific. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Russ, osetr' sturgeon. ] (Zool.) A species of sturgeon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Posse comitatus. [ 1913 Webster ]

In posse. See In posse in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖ [ L. posse to be able, to have power + LL. comitatus a county, from comes, comitis, a count. See County, and Power. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Law) The power of the county, or the citizens who may be summoned by the sheriff to assist the authorities in suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which is forcibly opposed. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A collection of people; a throng; a rabble. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word comitatus is often omitted, and posse alone used. “A whole posse of enthusiasts.” Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

As if the passion that rules were the sheriff of the place, and came off with all the posse. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Possessed p. pr. & vb. n. Possessing. ] [ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. Jer. xxxii. 15. [ 1913 Webster ]

Yet beauty, though injurious, hath strange power,
After offense returning, to regain
Love once possessed. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am yours, and all that I possess. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To obtain occupation or possession of; to accomplish; to gain; to seize. [ 1913 Webster ]

How . . . to possess the purpose they desired. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those which were possessed with devils. Matt. iv. 24. [ 1913 Webster ]

For ten inspired, ten thousand are possessed. Roscommon. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I have possessed your grace of what I purpose. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Record a gift . . . of all he dies possessed
Unto his son. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

We possessed our selves of the kingdom of Naples. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

To possess our minds with an habitual good intention. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. possession, L. possessio. ] 1. The act or state of possessing, or holding as one's own. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Law) The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy; ownership, whether rightful or wrongful. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Possession may be either actual or constructive; actual, when a party has the immediate occupancy; constructive, when he has only the right to such occupancy. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The thing possessed; that which any one occupies, owns, or controls; in the plural, property in the aggregate; wealth; dominion; as, foreign possessions. [ 1913 Webster ]

When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matt. xix. 22. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. Acts v. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Ob. 17. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The state of being possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

How long hath this possession held the man? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy. --
To put in possession. (a) To invest with ownership or occupancy; to provide or furnish with; as, to put one in possession of facts or information. (b) (Law) To place one in charge of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. --
To take possession, to enter upon, or to bring within one's power or occupancy. --
Writ of possession (Law), a precept directing a sheriff to put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To invest with property. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to possession; arising from possession. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A possessor; a property holder. [ Obs. ] “Possessioners of riches.” E. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

Having been of old freemen and possessioners. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An invidious name for a member of any religious community endowed with property in lands, buildings, etc., as contrasted with mendicant friars. [ Obs. ] Wyclif. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to the possessive case; as, a possessival termination. Earle. [ 1913 Webster ]