# have

Pronunciation: US/UK say "HAF" /hæf/; AUS say "HAV"

## Verb

1. To own or possess something, or to hold it or keep it with you or available for use.
   - Simple: To own something, or to hold it or keep it with you so you can use it.
   - _We don't have a garden, just a balcony._
   - _He had a large collection of stamps._
2. Used with a past participle to form the perfect aspect.
   - Simple: Used with a past participle to make the perfect tense, as in 'I have eaten'.
   - _Have you seen this film?_
   - _By noon they had walked ten miles._
3. To contain or be equipped with something as a component, ingredient, or feature.
   - Simple: To include something as a part or a feature.
   - _The car has a sunroof._
   - _Does this soup have garlic in it?_
4. Used with a to-infinitive to mean must; to be obliged or required to.
   - Simple: Used before to and a verb to say that you must do something.
   - _Do we have to wear a tie?_
   - _They had to wait an hour for a table._
9. To eat, drink, or smoke something, such as a meal, a coffee, or a cigarette.
   - Simple: To eat, drink, or smoke something, as in 'have breakfast' or 'have a coffee'.
   - _Let's have lunch together._
   - _He had two cups of coffee and left._
5. To experience or undergo something, including something that happens to you or to something of yours.
   - Simple: To experience something, including something that happens to you or to your things.
   - _They had a terrible time at the border._
   - _I hope you have a lovely holiday._
6. To undertake or perform an action or activity, with a noun that names it.
   - Simple: To do an action, as in 'have a look' or 'have a bath'.
   - _We had a long talk about it._
   - _Let me have a try._
7. Used to say that someone stands in a stated relationship to the subject.
   - Simple: To be related to or connected with someone, as in 'have two sisters'.
   - _He has a brother in Canada._
   - _Do you have a doctor you trust?_
8. To cause or arrange for someone to do something, or for something to be done or be in a certain state.
   - Simple: To make or arrange for someone to do something, or for something to be done or be a certain way.
   - _We're having the roof fixed next week._
   - _The news will have everyone talking._
10. To be affected by a disease, ailment, or other affliction.
   - Simple: To suffer from an illness or a problem, as in 'have a cold'.
   - _Do you have any allergies?_
   - _The old dog has arthritis._
11. Used before a pronoun to form a tag question that echoes the same verb used earlier, whether auxiliary or main.
   - Simple: Used at the end of a statement to check it, as in 'You have finished, haven't you?'.
   - _They have met him before, haven't they?_
   - _You haven't seen my reading glasses anywhere, have you?_
12. To give birth to; to bear.
   - Simple: To give birth to a child, as in 'she had a baby'.
   - _She's having her first child in the spring._
   - _My mother chose to have all six of us at home._
13. To obtain or get, usually in the passive.
   - Simple: To get or obtain, mostly in 'to be had'.
   - _Cheap rooms can still be had off season._
   - _Tickets were to be had at the door._
14. To be scheduled to attend, undertake or take part in something.
   - Simple: To be due to attend or do something, as in 'I have a meeting'.
   - _I have an exam tomorrow morning._
   - _They have rehearsals every evening this week._
15. To play host to someone, receiving them into one's home as a visitor.
   - Simple: To have someone as a guest, as in 'thanks for having me'.
   - _It was kind of you to have us for the weekend._
   - _She has her grandchildren every Saturday._
16. To engage in sexual intercourse with someone, used bluntly and often coarsely.
   - Simple: To have sex with someone.
   - _The rumor was that she'd had half the regiment._
   - _He wanted to have her and be gone._
17. To allow or tolerate something, used in the negative.
   - Simple: To allow or put up with something, in the negative, as in 'I won't have it'.
   - _Dad wouldn't have any of us out after dark._
   - _She won't have smoking in the house._
18. Often in the negative, to believe, accept or be taken in by something.
   - Simple: To believe or accept something, usually in the negative, as in 'wasn't having it'.
   - _Nice story, but I'm not having it._
   - _He claimed he had invented the game himself; nobody was having it._
19. To grasp the meaning of something or comprehend it.
   - Simple: To understand something, as in 'now I have it!'.
   - _Wait, I don't quite have this yet._
   - _'The thief never left the house!' 'Ah, now I have it,' said the inspector._
20. To trick or deceive, often in the passive. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To trick or cheat someone, mostly in 'I've been had'.
   - _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._
21. To arrive at a particular figure, reading, or answer from a calculation or a measuring instrument.
   - Simple: To get a result or reading, as in 'what do you have for problem two?'.
   - _I had 42 for question five, but the answer key says 24._
   - _What did you have for the total?_
22. To accept as a romantic partner or agree to marry.
   - Simple: To accept someone as a partner or spouse.
   - _Nobody would have her, said the gossips._
   - _Will you have this man to be your husband?_
23. To feel or be aware of a part of the body, especially painfully.
   - Simple: To feel a part of your body, especially because it aches.
   - _You'll have arms tomorrow after all that digging._
   - _She had a back for a week after moving house._
24. To win and keep a person's or audience's full attention or interest.
   - Simple: To hold someone's attention or interest completely.
   - _Two minutes into her talk, she had the whole room, and nobody touched their phones._
   - _Films like that have you from the opening shot._
26. With an adjective or phrase complement, to depict or represent as being a certain way.
   - Simple: To describe or show someone as being a certain way, as in 'her account had him at home'.
   - _The old maps have the river running to the west._
   - _Rumor had them married by Christmas._
28. To be able to speak a particular language.
   - Simple: To know a language well enough to speak it.
   - _Few of the younger teachers have Irish good enough to teach in it._
   - _He had a little Spanish from his years working in Madrid._
29. Used, often with "here" or "next," to introduce someone or something to an audience or to call the audience's attention to it.
   - Simple: Used, often with "here" or "next," to show or introduce someone or something to people watching or listening.
   - _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. To get the better of someone in a physical fight. *(slang, British)*
   - Simple: To beat someone in a 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._
31. To punish someone or make them pay for a wrong they have done. *(slang, British)*
   - Simple: To punish someone, or get back at them for something bad they did.
   - _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._

## Noun

25. A wealthy or privileged person, nearly always contrasted with a have-not.
   - Simple: A rich or privileged person, as in 'the haves and the have-nots'.
   - _In that town the haves lived on the hill._
   - _Every society has its haves and its have-nots._
27. A swindle or deception, or anything that turns out to be misleading. *(colloquial, Australia, New Zealand)*
   - Simple: In Australian and New Zealand slang, a swindle or a con.
   - _Fifty dollars for parking? What a have._
   - _Locals warned us the tour was a have._

## Other meanings

- (verb) Of a judge or jury, to take up a case for decision once the hearing is over and start deliberating.
- (verb) In birdwatching, to see a particular kind of bird.
- (noun) A person who possesses the particular thing being talked about, as opposed to one who lacks it.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–26, 28–31** — Old English habban ("to have") became Middle English haven. It comes from Proto-Germanic *habjaną and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂p-, meaning "to take, seize, catch." Heave is related, and German haben and Dutch hebben are among its many Germanic cognates. Latin habeō is not actually connected. Proto-Indo-European probably had no verb for "have" at all and expressed possession with forms of "be" and the possessor in the dative case.
**Meaning 27** — From the phrase "have on" ("to deceive").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/have (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).