The fright awakened Arcite with a start. --Dryden.
2. A convulsive motion, twitch, or spasm; a spasmodic effort.
For she did speak in starts distractedly. --Shak.
Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a
hurry. --L'Estrange.
3. A sudden, unexpected movement; a sudden and capricious
impulse; a sally; as, starts of fancy.
To check the starts and sallies of the soul.
--Addison.
4. The beginning, as of a journey or a course of action;
first motion from a place; act of setting out; the outset;
-- opposed to {finish}.
The start of first performance is all. --Bacon.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. --Shak.
{At a start}, at once; in an instant. [Obs.]
At a start he was betwixt them two. --Chaucer.
{To get}, or {have}, {the start}, to before another; to gain
or have the advantage in a similar undertaking; -- usually
with of. ``Get the start of the majestic world.'' --Shak.
``She might have forsaken him if he had not got the start
of her.'' --Dryden.
2. To possess, as something which appertains to, is connected
with, or affects, one.
The earth hath bubbles, as the water has. --Shak.
3. To accept possession of; to take or accept.
Break thy mind to me in broken English; wilt thou
have me? --Shak.
4. To get possession of; to obtain; to get. --Shak.
5. To cause or procure to be; to effect; to exact; to desire;
to require.
It had the church accurately described to me. --Sir
W. Scott.
Wouldst thou have me turn traitor also? --Ld.
Lytton.
6. To bear, as young; as, she has just had a child.
7. To hold, regard, or esteem.
Of them shall I be had in honor. --2 Sam. vi.
22.
8. To cause or force to go; to take. ``The stars have us to
bed.'' --Herbert. ``Have out all men from me.'' --2 Sam.
xiii. 9.
9. To take or hold (one's self); to proceed promptly; -- used
reflexively, often with ellipsis of the pronoun; as, to
have after one; to have at one or at a thing, i. e., to
aim at one or at a thing; to attack; to have with a
companion. --Shak.
10. To be under necessity or obligation; to be compelled;
followed by an infinitive.
Science has, and will long have, to be a divider
and a separatist. --M. Arnold.
The laws of philology have to be established by
external comparison and induction. --Earle.
11. To understand.
You have me, have you not? --Shak.
12. To put in an awkward position; to have the advantage of;
as, that is where he had him. [Slang]
Note: Have, as an auxiliary verb, is used with the past
participle to form preterit tenses; as, I have loved; I
shall have eaten. Originally it was used only with the
participle of transitive verbs, and denoted the
possession of the object in the state indicated by the
participle; as, I have conquered him, I have or hold
him in a conquered state; but it has long since lost
this independent significance, and is used with the
participles both of transitive and intransitive verbs
as a device for expressing past time. Had is used,
especially in poetry, for would have or should have.
Myself for such a face had boldly died.
--Tennyson.
{To have a care}, to take care; to be on one's guard.
{To have (a man) out}, to engage (one) in a duel.
{To have done} (with). See under Do, v. i.
{To have it out}, to speak freely; to bring an affair to a
conclusion.
{To have to do with}. See under Do, v. t.
Syn: To possess; to own. See {Possess}.