Occupy OC'CUPY, v.t. [L. occupo; ob and capio, to seize or take.]
1. To take possession. The person who first occupies land which has no owner, has the right of property.
2. To keep in possession; to possess; to hold or keep for use. The tenant occupies a farm under a lease of twenty one years. A lodger occupies an apartment; a man occupies the chair in which he sits.
3. To take up; to possess; to cover or fill. The camp occupies five acres of ground. Air may be so rarefied as to occupy a vast space. The writing occupies a sheet of paper, or it occupies five lines only.
4. To employ; to use.
The archbishop may have occasion to occupy more chaplains than six.
5. To employ; to busy one's self. Every man should be occupied, or should occupy himself, in some useful labor.
6. To follow, as business.
All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. Ezek 27.
7. To use; to expend.
All the gold that was occupied for the work - Exo 38. [Not now in use.]
OC'CUPY, v.i. To follow business; to negotiate.
Occupy till I come. Luke 19.

occupy v 1: keep busy with; "She busies herself with her butterfly collection" [syn: busy, occupy] 2: live (in a certain place); "She resides in Princeton"; "he occupies two rooms on the top floor" [syn: occupy, reside, lodge in] 3: occupy the whole of; "The liquid fills the container" [syn: occupy, fill] 4: be on the mind of; "I worry about the second Germanic consonant shift" [syn: concern, interest, occupy, worry] 5: march aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation; "Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939" [syn: invade, occupy] 6: require (time or space); "It took three hours to get to work this morning"; "This event occupied a very short time" [syn: take, occupy, use up] 7: consume all of one's attention or time; "Her interest in butterflies absorbs her completely" [syn: absorb, engross, engage, occupy] 8: assume, as of positions or roles; "She took the job as director of development"; "he occupies the position of manager"; "the young prince will soon occupy the throne" [syn: fill, take, occupy]

occupy early 14c., from O.Fr. occuper, from L. occupare "take over, seize, possess, occupy," from ob "over" + intensive form of capere "to grasp, seize," from PIE *kap- "to grasp." During 16c.-17c. a euphemism for "have sexual intercourse with," which caused it to fall from polite usage.

occupy transitive verb (-pied; -pying) Etymology: Middle English occupien to take possession of, occupy, from Anglo-French occupier, occuper, from Latin occupare, from ob- toward + -cupare (akin to capere to seize) — more at ob-, heave Date: 14th century 1. to engage the attention or energies of 2. a. to take up (a place or extent in space) <this chair is occupied> <the fireplace will occupy this corner of the room> b. to take or fill (an extent in time) <the hobby occupies all of my free time> 3. a. to take or hold possession or control of <enemy troops occupied the ridge> b. to fill or perform the functions of (an office or position) 4. to reside in as an owner or tenant • occupier noun

occupy
v.tr. (-ies, -ied)
1 reside in; be the tenant of.
2 take up or fill (space or time or a place).
3 hold (a position or office).
4 take military possession of (a country, region, town, strategic position).
5 place oneself in (a building etc.) forcibly or without authority.
6 (usu. in passive; often foll. by in, with) keep busy or engaged.
Etymology: ME f. OF occuper f. L occupare seize (as OB-, capere take)

occupy (occupies, occupying, occupied) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. The people who occupy a building or a place are the people who live or work there. There were over 40 tenants, all occupying one wing of the hospital... Land is, in most instances, purchased by those who occupy it. VERB: V n, V n 2. If a room or something such as a seat is occupied, someone is using it, so that it is not available for anyone else. The hospital bed is no longer occupied by his wife... I saw three camp beds, two of which were occupied. ≠ vacant, free V-PASSIVE: be V-ed, be V-ed 3. If a group of people or an army occupies a place or country, they move into it, using force in order to gain control of it. U.S. forces now occupy a part of the country... ...the occupied territories. VERB: V n, V-ed 4. If someone or something occupies a particular place in a system, process, or plan, they have that place. Men still occupy more positions of power than women. = hold VERB: V n 5. If something occupies you, or if you occupy yourself, your time, or your mind with it, you are busy doing that thing or thinking about it. Her parliamentary career has occupied all of her time... He hurried to take the suitcases and occupy himself with packing the car... I would deserve to be pitied if I couldn't occupy myself. VERB: V n, V pron-refl with n, V pron-refl, also V n with n • occupied Keep the brain occupied... I had forgotten all about it because I had been so occupied with other things. ADJ: v-link ADJ, oft ADJ with n 6. If something occupies you, it requires your efforts, attention, or time. I had other matters to occupy me, during the day at least... This challenge will occupy Europe for a generation or more. VERB: V n, V n 7. If something occupies a particular area or place, it fills or covers it, or exists there. Even quite small aircraft occupy a lot of space... Bookshelves occupied most of the living room walls. = take up VERB: V n, V n

occupy ˈɔkjupaɪ v.tr. (-ies, -ied) 1 reside in; be the tenant of. 2 take up or fill (space or time or a place). 3 hold (a position or office). 4 take military possession of (a country, region, town, strategic position). 5 place oneself in (a building etc.) forcibly or without authority. 6 (usu. in passive; often foll. by in, with) keep busy or engaged. [ME f. OF occuper f. L occupare seize (as OB-, capere take)]

occupy
began, onsittan, wunian, gesettan, bysgian

OCCUPY To occupy a woman; to have carnal knowledge of her.

Occupy \Oc"cu*py\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Occupied; p. pr. & vb. n. Occupying.] [OE. occupien, F. occuper, fr.L. occupare; ob (see Ob-) + a word akin to capere to take. See Capacious.] 1. To take or hold possession of; to hold or keep for use; to possess. Woe occupieth the fine [/end] of our gladness. --Chaucer. The better apartments were already occupied. --W. Irving. 2. To hold, or fill, the dimensions of; to take up the room or space of; to cover or fill; as, the camp occupies five acres of ground. --Sir J. Herschel. 3. To possess or use the time or capacity of; to engage the service of; to employ; to busy. An archbishop may have cause to occupy more chaplains than six. --Eng. Statute (Hen. VIII. ) They occupied themselves about the Sabbath. --2 Macc. viii. 27. 4. To do business in; to busy one's self with. [Obs.] All the ships of the sea, with their mariners, were in thee to occupy the merchandise. --Ezek. xxvii. 9. Not able to occupy their old crafts. --Robynson (More's Utopia). 5. To use; to expend; to make use of. [Obs.] All the gold that was occupied for the work. --Ex. xxxviii. 24. They occupy not money themselves. --Robynson (More's Utopia). 6. To have sexual intercourse with. [Obs.] --Nares.

Occupy \Oc"cu*py\, v. i. 1. To hold possession; to be an occupant. ``Occupy till I come.'' --Luke xix. 13. 2. To follow business; to traffic.

OCCUPY ok'-u-pi: Is in the King James Version the translation of 7 different words: (1) nathan; (2) cachar; (3) `arabh; (4) `asah, either with or without the added word, mela'khah; (5) anapleroun; (6) peripatein; (7) pragmateuein. In almost every case the meanings of "to occupy" as used in the King James Version in harmony with the common usage of the time have become obsolete. (1) In Eze 27:16,19,22, nathan meant "to trade," and the Revised Version (British and American) reads "traded." (2) From cachar, "to go about," was derived a designation of "merchants" (Revised Version) (Eze 27:21). (3) `Arabh (Eze 27:9) signifies "to exchange" (the English Revised Version and the American Revised Version margin, but the American Standard Revised Version "deal in"). (4) `asah (Ex 38:24) means simply "to use" (Revised Version), and the same word in Jud 16:11, with mela'khah ("work") added, signifies that work had been done (Revised Version). (5) In 1Co 14:16, "occupy," the King James Version rendering of anapleroun, would still be as intelligible to most as the Revised Version (British and American) "fill." (6) "Occupy" in Heb 13:9, in the sense of "being taken up with a thing," is the translation (both the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)) of peripatein, literally, "to walk." Finally (7) pragmateuein (Lu 19:13) is rendered in the King James Version "occupy" in its obsolete sense of "trade" (Revised Version). David Foster Estes

occupy v. a. 1. Possess (for the time), keep, hold, have possession of. 2. Cover, fill, take up, possess. 3. Employ, use. 4. Follow, pursue, be engaged with. 5. Employ, busy, engage.

occupy ˈɔkjupaɪ v. 1 capture, seize, take possession of, conquer, invade, take over, overrun, garrison, dominate, hold: Rebel forces had occupied the capital and toppled the governor. 2 live or reside or dwell in, tenant, be established or ensconced or situated in, establish or ensconce or situate oneself in, inhabit, be settled in or into, settle in or into, take up residence in, make one's home in, move in or into; be located in: She occupies a luxurious flat in Belgravia. 3 engage, busy, absorb, monopolize, hold, take up or over, catch, grab, seize, grip; divert, amuse, entertain, distract, beguile, preoccupy, hold (someone's) attention, interest, engross, involve: Other matters occupied my attention last Sunday. While one man was keeping the shopkeeper occupied, the other man was robbing the till. 4 fill (in or up), take up, cover, extend over, consume, use (up), Colloq eat up: The car occupies more garage space than I thought it would. Housework occupies very little of my time.

173 Moby Thesaurus words for "occupy": abide, absorb, absorb the attention, admit, adopt, amuse, appropriate, arrest, arrogate, assimilate, assume, attend to business, be enfeoffed of, be possessed of, be seized of, beguile, berth, bespread, boast, bunk, busy, capture, catch, charm, claim, cohabit, colonize, come uppermost, command, complete, comprehend, comprise, conquer, consume, contain, count in, cover, crawl with, creep with, devote, diffuse, distract, divert, domicile, domiciliate, dominate, doss down, dwell, eat up, embody, embrace, employ, enchant, encircle, enclose, encompass, engage, engage the attention, engage the mind, engage the thoughts, engross, engross the mind, engross the thoughts, enjoy, enslave, entertain, enthrall, envisage, exercise, extend over, extend throughout, fascinate, fill, fill in, fill out, fill the mind, fill up, garrison, grab, grip, hang out, have, have and hold, have in hand, have tenure of, hog, hold, hold spellbound, hold the interest, honeycomb, hypnotize, imbue, immerse, include, incorporate, indent, inhabit, interest, invade, involve, involve the interest, jump a claim, leave no void, leaven, live, lodge, make free with, make use of, mesmerize, mind the store, monopolize, monopolize the thoughts, move in, move into, nest, number among, obsess, obsess the mind, occupy the attention, occupy the mind, overrun, overspread, overswarm, pass the time, penetrate, people, perch, permeate, pervade, populate, possess, preempt, preoccupy, prepossess, receive, reckon among, reckon in, reckon with, remain, requisition, reside, room, roost, run through, seize, seize the mind, settle in, settle into, sit on, soak, spellbind, spend, spend the time, squat, squat on, stay, subjugate, suffuse, swarm with, take all of, take in, take into account, take into consideration, take it all, take over, take possession of, take up, teem with, tenant, transfuse, use up, usucapt, usurp

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