owe

verbhave an obligation

Synonyms for owe

verb have an obligation

Antonyms for owe

Word Origin & History

Old English agan (past tense ahte) "to have, own," from Proto-Germanic *aiganan "to possess" (cf. Old Frisian aga, Old Norse eiga, Old High German eigan, Gothic aigan "to possess, have"), from PIE *aik- "to be master of, possess" (cf. Sanskrit ise "he owns," isah "owner, lord, ruler;" Avestan is- "riches," isvan- "well-off, rich").

Sense of "to have to repay" began in late Old English with the phrase agan to geldanne literally "to own to yield," which was used to translate Latin debere (earlier in Old English this would have been sceal "shall"); by late 12c. the phrase had been shortened to simply agan, and own (v.) took over this word's original sense.

An original Germanic preterite-present verb (cf. can, dare, may, etc.). New past tense form owed arose 15c. to replace oughte, which developed into ought (v.).

Example Sentences forowe

In view of the violence you made use of, I consider that you owe my son an apology.

He didn't like to owe anything to other people, not even to Prissie.

I owe no thanks to Mrs. Whitney, with her prunes and her prisms and her penny-pinchings.

Yes, I'm afraid I owe a lot of money, but must we—just to-night?

We owe the discovery of this important document to Mr. Newman Flower.

I cannot tell you how lovely I find it, nor how happy I am; and I owe it all, all to you.

We owe it to the sex, Renny, to give 'em a chance at reforming us.

I owe him an old grudge, and will find a time to pay it yet.

Certainly, also, you have paid back all you owe me with a Jew's interest.

I owe it to your friendship not to torment you with unnecessary apprehensions.

owe

Synonyms for owe

Antonyms for owe

contracted

contracting

contracts

owe

Synonyms for owe

Antonyms for owe

More words related to owe

contract

contracted

contracting

contracts