own

Etymology 1

From Middle English owen, aȝen, from Old English āgen (“own, proper, peculiar”), originally the past participle of āgan; from Proto-West Germanic *aigan (“own”), from Proto-Germanic *aiganaz (“own”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyḱ- (“to have, possess”). Cognates Cognate with Scots ain (“own”), Saterland Frisian oain (“own”), Dutch, German and Norwegian Nynorsk eigen (“own”), Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish egen (“own”), Icelandic eigin (“own”). Originally past participle of the verb at hand in English owe. Also cognate with Sanskrit ईश्वर (īśvará, “able to do, capable of; owner, master”).

adj

1. Belonging to; possessed; acquired; proper to; property of; titled to; held in one's name; under/using the name of. Often marks a possessive determiner as reflexive, referring back to the subject of the clause or sentence.
   The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you[…] "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. 2013-06-21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27
2. Not shared.
   When we move into the new house, the kids will each have their own bedroom.
3. (obsolete) Peculiar, domestic.
4. (obsolete) Not foreign.

Etymology 2

A back-formation from owner, owning and own (adjective). Compare Old English āgnian, Dutch eigenen, German eignen, Swedish ägna.

verb

1. (transitive) To have rightful possession of (property, goods or capital); to have legal title to; to acquire a property or asset.
   I own this car.
2. (transitive) To have recognized political sovereignty over a place, territory, as distinct from the ordinary connotation of property ownership.
   The United States owns Point Roberts by the terms of the Treaty of Oregon.
3. (transitive) To defeat or embarrass; to overwhelm.
   I will own my enemies.
   If he wins, he will own you.
4. (transitive) To virtually or figuratively enslave.
5. (online gaming, slang) To defeat, dominate, or be above, also spelled pwn.
6. (transitive, computing, slang) To illicitly obtain superuser or root access to a computer system, thereby having access to all of the user files on that system; pwn.
   TH15 5Y5T3M 15 0WN3D 1996/06/21, The Happiest Dragon Alive!!, “Re: An unusual situation”, in (Usenet), retrieved 2016-09-24, message-ID <4qe8pc$8ti@nerd.apk.net>
7. (intransitive, slang) To be very good.
8. (intransitive) To admit, concede, grant, allow, acknowledge, confess; not to deny.
   I own thy speechless, placeless power; but to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional, unintegral mastery in me. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick
   For instance, when I flung the cat out of an upper window (though I did it from no ill-feeling, and it didn't hurt the cat), I was ready, after a moment's reflection, to own I was wrong, as a gentleman should. 1895, Kenneth Graham, The Golden Age, London, page 6
9. (transitive) To admit; concede; acknowledge.
10. (transitive) To proudly acknowledge; to not be ashamed or embarrassed of.
    "Well, I'm not hiding anymore! I'm owning my girly looks with cute short pink hair!" 17 April 2014, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Thursday, Apr 17, 2014
11. (transitive) To take responsibility for.
12. (transitive) To recognise; acknowledge.
    to own one as a son
13. (transitive) To claim as one's own.
14. (intransitive, UK dialectal) To confess.

noun

1. (Internet slang) A crushing insult.
   the amount of bigots that just screenshot my profile thinking it's the biggest own is insane. 10 June 23, @__Happyface, Twitter