Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for OC'CU-PY
OC'CU-PY, v.t. [L. occupo; ob and capio, to seize or take.]
- To take possession. The person who first occupies land which has no owner, has the right of property.
- To keep in possession; to possess; to hold or keep for use. The tenant occupies a farm under a lease of twenty-one years. A lodger occupies an apartment; a man occupies the chair in which he sits.
- To take up; to possess; to cover or fill. The camp occupies five acres of ground. Air may be so rarefied as to occupy a vast space. The writing occupies a sheet of paper, or it occupies five lines only.
- To employ; to use. The archbishop may have occasion to occupy more chaplains than six. Eng. Statute.
- To employ; to busy one's self. Every man should be occupied, or should occupy himself, in some useful labor.
- To follow, as business. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. Ezek. xxvii.
- To use; to expend. All the gold that was occupied for the work. Exod. xxxviii. [Not now in use.]
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