owe

[oh]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR owe ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), owed, ow·ing.

to be under obligation to pay or repay: to owe money to the bank; to owe the bank interest on a mortgage.

to be in debt to: He says he doesn't owe anybody.

to be indebted (to) as the cause or source of: to owe one's fame to good fortune.

to have or bear (a feeling or attitude) toward someone or something: to owe gratitude to one's rescuers.

Obsolete. to possess; own.

verb (used without object), owed, ow·ing.

to be in debt: Neither lend nor owe. Who owes for the antipasto?

Origin of owe

before 900; Middle English owen to possess, be under obligation, have to pay; Old English āgan to possess; cognate with Old High German eigan, Old Norse eiga. See own, ought¹

Can be confusedO oh oweode owed

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for owed

unpaid, unsettled, payable, overdue, expected, scheduled, owing, mature, chargeable, IOU, outstanding, receivable, unsatisfied, collectible, unliquidated

Examples from the Web for owed

Contemporary Examples of owed

And much of the credit to her transformation is owed to a finishing school that caters to women just like her.
Inside A Finishing School for Transwomen
Sharon Adarlo
December 27, 2014
He also elected not to take advantage of a recent tax amnesty whereby he could have paid back just 10 percent of what he owed.
Is Soccer Great Lionel Messi Corrupt?
Jack Holmes
December 8, 2014
That the song has become so indelible is likely owed to the fact that we can all sort of relate.
‘My Crazy Love’ Reveals the Craziest Lies People Tell for Love
Kevin Fallon
November 18, 2014
LePage owed his election in 2010 to a split opposition, as he won a tight three-way race over Cutler and Democrat Libby Mitchell.
Republican Wave Carries Maine Governor Paul LePage to Victory
Ben Jacobs
November 5, 2014
He presumably felt he owed it to himself to make one more visit to hell and report back with a cliché-busting dispatch.
How Hitch & Amis Discovered Evil In My House
Peter Foges
September 28, 2014

Historical Examples of owed

They owed me every thing, like you—their gratitude was unbounded, even as yours.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
I have said that the Carters owed their little farm to the creek.
The Raid From Beausejour; And How The Carter Boys Lifted The Mortgage
Charles G. D. Roberts
I pitied him; I owed him hospitality; but it seemed intolerable that he should be there.
Green Mansions
W. H. Hudson
Mimi put in many words of how much Siegfried owed for all this care and trouble.
Opera Stories from Wagner
Florence Akin
I did not even tell her that I owed the worst and most lasting of my wounds to Philip.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic

British Dictionary definitions for owed

owe

verb (mainly tr)

to be under an obligation to pay (someone) to the amount of

(intr) to be in debthe still owes for his house

(often foll by to) to have as a result (of)he owes his success to chance

to feel the need or obligation to do, give, etcto owe somebody thanks; to owe it to oneself to rest

to hold or maintain in the mind or heart (esp in the phrase owe a grudge)

Word Origin for owe

Old English āgan to have (C12: to have to); related to Old Saxon ēgan, Old High German eigan

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for owed

owe

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.).