had

Etymology

From Middle English hadde (preterite), yhad (past participle), from Old English hæfde (first and third person singular preterite), ġehæfd (past participle), from Proto-Germanic *habdaz, past and past participle stem of *habjaną (“to have”), equivalent to have + -ed. Cognate with Dutch had, German hatte, Swedish hade, Icelandic hafði.

verb

1. simple past and past participle of have
   This morning I had an egg for breakfast.
   A good time was had by all.
2. (auxiliary, followed by a past participle) Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past.
   I felt sure that I had seen him before.
   Cooper seems an odd choice, but imagine if they had taken MTV's advice and chosen Robert Pattinson? April 15 2011, Ben Cooper, The Guardian, London
3. (auxiliary, now rare) As past subjunctive: would have.
   To holde myne honde, by God, I had grete payne; / For forthwyth there I had him slayne, / But that I drede mordre wolde come oute[…]. 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte
   If all was good and fair we met, / This earth had been the Paradise / It never look’d to human eyes / Since our first Sun arose and set. 1849, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, section 24
   CAESAR (smiling). Of course I had rather you stayed. 1898, George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra