Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OWN, a. [Sax. agen; Sw. and Dan. egen; D. and G. eigen; the participle of Sax. agan, to possess. See Owe and Ought.]

1. Belonging to; possessed; peculiar; usually expressing property with emphasis, or in express exclusion of others. It follows my, your, his, their, thy, her. God created man in his own image. Adam begat a son in his own likeness. Let them fall by their own counsel. He washed us from our sins in his own blood. Scripture. In the phrases, his own nation, his own country, the word own denotes that the person belongs to the nation or country.
2. Own often follows a verb; as, the book is not my own, that is, my own book.
3. It is used as a substitute. That they may dwell in a place of their own. 2 Sam. vii. In this use, a noun can not follow own.
4. “He came to his own, and his own received him not,” that is, his own nation or people; own being here used as a substitute, like many other adjectives.