owes

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular present of owe.

   The company owes its suppliers a large sum this quarter.

   She owes the bank more than she can comfortably repay.

   Note

   Every construction of owe carries over into the -s form unchanged. It can take two objects, the person first and the debt second (she owes him an apology). It can stand alone to mean being in debt (he still owes). It can also name a cause with to (the town owes its name to the river). That last use has nothing to do with money; it records credit, not accounts.

   He borrowed heavily last year and still owes.

   The festival owes much of its success to volunteers.

2. 2
   nounplural

   Alternative form of oes. Obsolete: small spangles sewn on clothing.

   Note

   Seventeenth-century dress glittered with these: circle-shaped spangles of precious metal stitched onto clothing. The word is now as obsolete as the fashion, and it exists only in the plural. Because it looks exactly like the verb of debt, a modern reader will take it as that verb unless the setting is dress. Oes is the clearer spelling when writing about historical costume.

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