have

Less common meanings

9. 9
   eatverbtransitive

   To eat, drink, or smoke something, such as a meal, a coffee, or a cigarette.

   Let's have lunch together.

   He had two cups of coffee and left.

   UsageMeal names usually take no article: have breakfast, have dinner. A serving of a drink can take a: have a coffee.

   Similareat, drink, consume, take

10. 10
    suffer fromverbtransitive

    To be affected by a disease, ailment, or other affliction.

    Do you have any allergies?

    The old dog has arthritis.

    UsageOften with a: have a cold, have a headache, have a fever; but have arthritis, have allergies.

11. 11
    verb

    Used before a pronoun to form a tag question that echoes the same verb used earlier, whether auxiliary or main.

    They have met him before, haven't they?

    You haven't seen my reading glasses anywhere, have you?

    UsageA positive statement usually takes a negative tag, and a negative statement a positive tag: she has left, hasn't she? You haven't, have you?

12. 12
    give birthverbtransitive

    To give birth to; to bear.

    She's having her first child in the spring.

    My mother chose to have all six of us at home.

    UsageFor a coming birth, use the -ing form: she's having a baby in May.

    Similarbear, deliver, birth

13. 13
    verbpassivetransitive

    To obtain or get, usually in the passive.

    Cheap rooms can still be had off season.

    Tickets were to be had at the door.

    UsageMostly in can be had or to be had, with a thing as subject; a person who has been had was tricked.

    Similarobtain, get, find, acquire, buy

    Note

    What can't be had at any price cannot be obtained, and a fortune waiting to be had, as Rob Halford, K. K. Downing and Glenn Tipton wrote in 1982, is there for the taking. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The words “a fortune waiting to be had” occur in “You've Got Another Thing Comin’.” en.wiktionary.org
    • Rob Halford, K. K. Downing and Glenn Tipton are the credited songwriters. en.wikipedia.org
    • The lyric dates to 1982. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    be scheduledverbtransitive

    To be scheduled to attend, undertake or take part in something.

    I have an exam tomorrow morning.

    They have rehearsals every evening this week.

15. 15
    hostverbtransitive

    To play host to someone, receiving them into one's home as a visitor.

    It was kind of you to have us for the weekend.

    She has her grandchildren every Saturday.

    UsageCommon with over: we're having friends over on Saturday.

    Similarhost, entertain, accommodate, receive, welcome

16. 16
    verbtransitive

    To engage in sexual intercourse with someone, used bluntly and often coarsely.

    The rumor was that she'd had half the regiment.

    He wanted to have her and be gone.

    Similarbed

17. 17
    allowverbtransitive

    To allow or tolerate something, used in the negative.

    Dad wouldn't have any of us out after dark.

    She won't have smoking in the house.

    UsageLives in the negative: won't have it, wouldn't have you staying out late.

    Similarallow, tolerate, permit, accept, stand

    Oppositeforbid, prohibit

    Note

    Refusal is dressed as possession: what one will not have, one will not allow. It can take a person plus an -ing verb, as in Virginia Woolf's 1922 I won't have you chasing the geese! Not having any of it also expresses disbelief, where the object is a story rather than a behavior. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The quotation occurs in Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room; Mrs. Flanders speaks it to Johnny. en.wikisource.org
    • Jacob’s Room was first published in 1922. commons.wikimedia.org
18. 18
    believeverbtransitive

    Often in the negative, to believe, accept or be taken in by something.

    Nice story, but I'm not having it.

    He claimed he had invented the game himself; nobody was having it.

    UsageUsually in the progressive (not having it, wasn't having any of it) to reject an excuse or story.

    Similarbuy, believe, accept, swallow, credit

19. 19
    understandverbtransitive

    To grasp the meaning of something or comprehend it.

    Wait, I don't quite have this yet.

    'The thief never left the house!' 'Ah, now I have it,' said the inspector.

    Similarunderstand, grasp, get, follow, see

20. 20
    trickverbcolloquialpassivetransitive

    To trick or deceive, often in the passive.

    If that watch turns out to be a fake, I've been had.

    The moment the contractor vanished with our deposit, we knew we'd been had.

    Similarcon, trick, fool, dupe, swindle

    Note

    The victim is had the way a prize is taken, and the passive carries the rueful discovery: I think I've been had. The noun a have, meaning a con comes from the same idea of deception, through have on. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The noun have, meaning a con or deception, derives from have on in its deception sense. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    get as answerverbtransitive

    To arrive at a particular figure, reading, or answer from a calculation or a measuring instrument.

    I had 42 for question five, but the answer key says 24.

    What did you have for the total?

    Similarget, show

22. 22
    say yes (marriage)verbtransitive

    To accept as a romantic partner or agree to marry.

    Nobody would have her, said the gossips.

    Will you have this man to be your husband?

    Similartake, accept, marry

    Oppositereject, refuse, spurn

23. 23
    feel soreverbtransitive

    To feel or be aware of a part of the body, especially painfully.

    You'll have arms tomorrow after all that digging.

    She had a back for a week after moving house.

    Note

    A wry idiom of the body: a limb nobody notices is suddenly had once it aches. The body part stands bare, with no article or adjective, as in Dan has arms today. The listener is left to infer the soreness, helped along by its cause: scraping paint off four columns the day before. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The Dan example concerns painful awareness of his arms, with scraping paint off four columns the previous day supplied as the probable cause. en.wiktionary.org
24. 24
    hold attentionverbtransitive

    To win and keep a person's or audience's full attention or interest.

    Two minutes into her talk, she had the whole room, and nobody touched their phones.

    Films like that have you from the opening shot.

    UsageYou had me can mean you held my attention or you fooled me; context decides.

    Similarhold, grip, hook, captivate, keep

    Oppositelose

    Note

    Attention can be held so completely that the listener seems to belong to the performer. After a Lou Reed concert, Lou Sullivan wrote in his diary that he completely had me. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Lou Sullivan wrote in his diary after seeing Lou Reed that Reed completely had him; the wording includes “he completely had me.” en.wiktionary.org
25. 25
    rich personnounidiomaticcountablecontrastive

    A wealthy or privileged person, nearly always contrasted with a have-not.

    In that town the haves lived on the hill.

    Every society has its haves and its have-nots.

    Oppositehave-not

    Note

    Ownership turned into a social category: the noun takes the possessive verb and makes its subject a kind of person. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • The social-category noun is derived from the possessive verb have. en.wiktionary.org
    • The resulting noun denotes people with wealth, privilege or possessions. en.wiktionary.org
26. 26
    show asverbtransitivewith adjective

    With an adjective or phrase complement, to depict or represent as being a certain way.

    The old maps have the river running to the west.

    Rumor had them married by Christmas.

    Similarshow, depict, portray, represent

    Note

    A report or account can be the subject: her statement had him at home means the statement placed him there, whatever the truth was. The Guardian used it in 2011 to correct its own earlier version: not Anton Rogers as we had it. That shows the sense at its most practical, since what we had is simply what we said. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The Guardian used “not Anton Rogers as we had it” in a correction in 2011. en.wiktionary.org
27. 27
    rip-offnouncolloquialAustraliaNew Zealandcountable

    A swindle or deception, or anything that turns out to be misleading.

    Fifty dollars for parking? What a have.

    Locals warned us the tour was a have.

    Similarcon, scam, rip-off, swindle, fraud

    Note

    A trick turned into a noun, from have on in the sense of deceiving: a have is the swindle or the misleading claim itself. It sits close to being had. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The noun meaning a swindle or deception derives from have on, meaning to deceive. en.wiktionary.org
28. 28
    speak (language)verbtransitive

    To be able to speak a particular language.

    Few of the younger teachers have Irish good enough to teach in it.

    He had a little Spanish from his years working in Madrid.

    UsageThe language takes no article and often follows some, a little or no: I have a little Spanish.

    Similarspeak, know

    Note

    In Ireland this is an everyday way to say which languages someone speaks: do you have Irish? Elsewhere it now sounds dated; people usually say they speak or know the language.

29. 29
    verbtransitive

    Used, often with "here" or "next," to introduce someone or something to an audience or to call the audience's attention to it.

    Here we have a letter Lincoln wrote just weeks before the election.

    On line two, we have Dave from Ohio with a question about his lawn.

30. 30
    beat (fight)verbslangBritishtransitive

    To get the better of someone in a physical fight.

    Don't let his size fool you: our Kev could have him with one hand tied behind his back.

    Mouthy as he was, he knew the bouncer would have him in a straight fight.

    UsageOften with could or would, since the fight is imagined: I could have him.

    Similarbeat, take

31. 31
    punishverbslangBritishtransitive

    To punish someone or make them pay for a wrong they have done.

    Leave your car on the double yellows again and the council will have you.

    He swore that if anyone grassed on him, he'd have them for it.

    UsageMostly a threat, with the offense after for: he'll have you for that.

    Similarpunish, get

    Note

    The punisher is often someone in authority, and unlike the fighting meaning no blows need land. When the Buggles re-recorded Video Killed the Radio Star for Top of the Pops, a Musicians' Union man threatened to have them if he caught them faking strings on a synthesizer. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The Buggles rerecorded Video Killed the Radio Star for Top of the Pops; a Musicians’ Union representative threatened them over synthesised strings. theguardian.com
32. 32
    verb

    Of a judge or jury, to take up a case for decision once the hearing is over and start deliberating.
33. 33
    verb

    In birdwatching, to see a particular kind of bird.
34. 34
    nounrare

    A person who possesses the particular thing being talked about, as opposed to one who lacks it.