occupy

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English occupien, occupyen, borrowed from Old French occuper, from Latin occupāre (“to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up, employ”), from ob (“to, on”) + capiō (“to take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to seize, grab”). Doublet of occupate, now obsolete. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ŏʹ-kyo͝o-pī IPA(key): /ˈɒkjʊpaɪ/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɑkjəpaɪ/ Hyphenation: oc‧cu‧py === Verb === occupy (third-person singular simple present occupies, present participle occupying, simple past and past participle occupied) (transitive, of time) To take or use. To fill. To possess or use the time or capacity of; to engage the service of. To fill or hold (an official position or role). To hold the attention of. (transitive) To take or use space. To fill space. To live or reside in. (military) To have, or to have taken, possession or control of (a territory). (surveying) To place the theodolite or total station at (a point). (transitive, obsolete) To have sexual intercourse with. 1867, Robert Nares A Glossary OCCUPY, [sensu obsc.] To possess, or enjoy. These villains will make the word captain, as odious as the word occupy. 2 Hen. IV, ii, 4. Groyne, come of age, his state sold out of hand For 's whore; Groyne still doth occupy his land. B. Jons. Epigr., 117. Many, out of their own obscene apprehensions, refuse proper and fit words, as occupy, nature, and the like. Ibid., Discoveries, vol. vii, p. 119. It is so used also in Rowley's New Wonder, Anc. Dr., v, 278. (obsolete) To do business in; to busy oneself with. 1551, Ralph Robinson (tr.), Sir Thomas More's Utopia (in Latin), 1516 not able to occupy their old crafts (obsolete) To use; to expend; to make use of. 1551, Ralph Robinson (tr.), Sir Thomas More's Utopia (in Latin), 1516 They occupy not money themselves. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Synonyms ==== (to possess or use the time or capacity of): employ, busy (to have sexual intercourse with): coitize, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== occupant occupation ==== Translations ==== === See also === Appendix:American Dialect Society words of the year === References === “occupy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. occupy in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018. James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Occupy”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC. “occupy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “occupy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.