Definition of "occupy" in English

verb

1. (transitive, of time) To take or use.

2. (transitive) To take or use space.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To have sexual intercourse with.

   • 1867, Robert Nares A Glossary OCCUPY, [sensu obsc.] To possess, or enjoy. These villains will make the word captain, as odious as the word occupy. 2 Hen. IV, ii, 4. Groyne, come of age, his state sold out of hand For 's whore; Groyne still doth occupy his land. B. Jons. Epigr., 117. Many, out of their own obscene apprehensions, refuse proper and fit words, as occupy, nature, and the like. Ibid., Discoveries, vol. vii, p. 119. It is so used also in Rowley's New Wonder, Anc. Dr., v, 278.

4. (obsolete) To do business in; to busy oneself with.

   • not able to occupy their old crafts

5. (obsolete) To use; to expend; to make use of.

   • They occupy not money themselves.