haves

1. 1
   nouncountableplural

   The wealthy or privileged members of society, contrasted with those who are poor or deprived.

   Like a Monopoly board late in the game, split between the player owning every property and the one left paying rent.

   Economic policy too often favors the haves at the expense of everyone else.

   The widening gap between the haves and the have-nots fuels political resentment.

   Similarrich, wealthy, elite

   Oppositehave-nots, poor

   Note

   A noun made from the verb, turning possession into a class of people, and it almost always appears in a pair: the have-nots is its natural partner. It is plural only, so there is no "a have". It takes a plural verb and nearly always the definite article: the haves are pulling further ahead. The pairing does the work, and on its own the word sounds incomplete.

2. 2
   verbnonstandard

   Nonstandard third-person singular simple present indicative of have; the standard form is has.

   Note

   A regularized present tense: it adds the ordinary -s to the base form where standard English keeps the irregular has. Any use, as in he haves a cousin, reads as nonstandard, so writing meant to sound standard always needs has. The same spelling belongs to the plural noun for the wealthy, which is fully standard. Position tells them apart, since the noun follows the and the verb follows a subject.

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