n. [ F. possession, L. possessio. ] 1. The act or state of possessing, or holding as one's own. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. (Law) The having, holding, or detention of property in one's power or command; actual seizin or occupancy; ownership, whether rightful or wrongful. [ 1913 Webster ] ☞ Possession may be either actual or constructive; actual, when a party has the immediate occupancy; constructive, when he has only the right to such occupancy. [ 1913 Webster ] 3. The thing possessed; that which any one occupies, owns, or controls; in the plural, property in the aggregate; wealth; dominion; as, foreign possessions. [ 1913 Webster ] When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Matt. xix. 22. [ 1913 Webster ] Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. Acts v. 1. [ 1913 Webster ] The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. Ob. 17. [ 1913 Webster ] 4. The state of being possessed or controlled, as by an evil spirit, or violent passions; madness; frenzy; as, demoniacal possession. [ 1913 Webster ] How long hath this possession held the man? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]
To give possession, to put in another's power or occupancy. --
To put in possession. (a) To invest with ownership or occupancy; to provide or furnish with; as, to put one in possession of facts or information. (b) (Law) To place one in charge of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. --
To take possession, to enter upon, or to bring within one's power or occupancy. --
Writ of possession (Law), a precept directing a sheriff to put a person in peaceable possession of property recovered in ejectment or writ of entry. [ 1913 Webster ]
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