Emily Dickinson Lexicon

OWN, v.t. [from the adjective.]

1. To have the legal or rightful title to; to have the exclusive right of possession and use. A freeholder in the United States owns his farm. Men often own land or goods which are not in their possession.
2. To have the legal right to, without the exclusive right to use; as, a man owns the land in front of his farm to the middle of the highway.
3. To acknowledge to belong to; to avow or admit that the property belongs to. When you come, find me out / And own me for your son. Dryden.
4. To avow; to confess, as a fault, crime or other act; that is, to acknowledge that one has done the act; as, to own the faults of youth; to own our guilt. The man is charged with theft, but he has not owned it.
5. In general, to acknowledge; to confess; to avow; to admit to be true; not to deny; as, to own our weakness and frailty. Many own the Gospel of salvation more from custom than conviction. J. M. Mason.