having

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English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈhævɪŋ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: ha‧ving

Verb

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having

  1. present participle and gerund of have

Noun

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having (countable and uncountable, plural havings)

  1. The act of possessing; ownership.
    • 2002, Ronald Jager, The Development of Bertrand Russell's Philosophy:
      He thus came to think of perceiving as a complex of 'havings,' not a complex of 'havings' and 'doings.'
  2. Something owned; possession; goods; estate.
    • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
      Out of my lean and low ability
      I’ll lend you something: my having is not much;
      I’ll make division of my present with you:
      Hold, there’s half my coffer.
    • 1875, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Queen Mary[1], London: Henry S. King, act II, scene 2, page 80:
      Your havings wasted by the scythe and spade—
      Your rights and charters hobnail’d into slush—
  3. (obsolete) A person's behaviour.
  4. (obsolete, Scotland, chiefly in the plural) Good manners.

Adjective

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having (comparative more having, superlative most having)

  1. (obsolete) Grasping; greedy.
    • 1875, Christ and the people, sermons, page 282:
      The new man in Humanity, which is the communication of the Son of Man Who is the Interceder, is an asking man, although it is not a greedy and a having man.