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?

Nearby words

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

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

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|DAILY BEAST
He owed it to himself to do so, and he also owed it to the man whom he had certainly placed in his present position.
The Prime Minister|Anthony Trollope
To this matrimonial explosion Sir Jekyl owed his entrance and agreeable sojourn upon the earth.
Guy Deverell, v. 1 of 2|Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
That should be her object,—that and the duty that she owed to Mrs Baggett.
An Old Man's Love|Anthony Trollope
Ellesmere owed its early importance to its position on the Welsh borders and to its castle, which was in ruins, however, in 1349.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 3|Various
To "Fifth Avenue" is owed the following description of the neighbourhood of the present Plaza in the middle of the last century.
Fifth Avenue|Arthur Bartlett Maurice

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.).

owe