Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To be indebted to the amount of.
- intransitive verb To have a moral or legal obligation to render or offer.
- intransitive verb To be in debt to.
- intransitive verb To be indebted or obliged for.
- intransitive verb To bear (a certain feeling) toward a person or persons.
- intransitive verb Archaic To have as a possession; own.
- intransitive verb To be in debt.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To own; acknowledge; confess.
- To possess; have; own; be the owner or rightful possessor of.
- To be bound (to do something); be under obligation; ought: followed by an object infinitive.
- To be indebted for; be or feel bound or under obligation for; of a debt, to be under obligation to pay: followed by to, it often indicates origin or cause: as, to
owe a thousand dollars; to owe some one a grudge; to owe success to family influence. - To be in debt; continue to be in debt.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To possess; to have, as the rightful owner; to own.
- transitive verb To have or possess, as something derived or bestowed; to be obliged to ascribe (something to some source); to be indebted or obliged for.
- transitive verb To have or be under an obigation to restore, pay, or render (something) in return or compensation for something received; to be indebted in the sum of
- transitive verb To have an obligation to (some one) on account of something done or received; to be indebted to.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
- verb To have
debt , to be in debt.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be obliged to pay or repay
- verb be indebted to, in an abstract or intellectual sense
- verb be in debt
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In doing so, it treats the care I owe you as identical to the care I would ˜owe™ myself.
Theories of Tort Law Coleman, Jules 2003
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III. i.242 (371,7) One time will owe another] I know not whether to _owe_ in this place means to _possess by right_, or to _be indebted_.
Notes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The Tragedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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WHether you hav e1 bracket or 10 brackets, finding the percent you owe is easy.
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There have been a number of assertions that only lying about the tax you owe is a crime, failure to pay is not.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Destroying the Constitution’s Structure is not Constitutional 2010
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The IPO is intended to help AIG in its efforts to repay U.S. taxpayers the more than $90 billion they owe from a government bailout.
AIG Lays Out Profit Forecast for AIA Unit Erik Holm 2010
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Paying somebody to figure out how much I owe is like pouring salt on a wound.
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Jews, in short, owe their liberalism to the West, not the other way round.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009
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To take responsibility for paying what you owe is to me, the right thing to do.
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If the war in Iraq turns out to be a failure, then I would think the first apology we owe is to our own people, for the treasure and lives we spent, and then to the people in Iraq for playing God to no effect.
Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » On Totally Losing Perspective 2004
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(Hear, hear) I have often wondered how much the markets of Great Britain owe to the confidence which other nations have had in the honour of Britishers in commercial matters.
bleckley commented on the word owe
I owe a video game
March 9, 2007