having

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhævɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ha‧ving

Verb

having

1. present participle and gerund of have

Noun

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

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.