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owing

 - 5 dictionary results

ow⋅ing

  [oh-ing]
–adjective
1. owed, unpaid, or due for payment: to pay what is owing.
—Idiom
2. owing to, because of; as a result of: Owing to a mistake in the payroll department, some of us were issued incorrect checks.
Use owing in a Sentence
Origin:
1325–75; ME; see owe, -ing 2

owe

  [oh] verb, owed, ow⋅ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to be under obligation to pay or repay: to owe money to the bank; to owe the bank interest on a mortgage.
2. to be in debt to: He says he doesn't owe anybody.
3. to be indebted (to) as the cause or source of: to owe one's fame to good fortune.
4. to have or bear (a feeling or attitude) toward someone or something: to owe gratitude to one's rescuers.
5. Obsolete. to possess; own.
–verb (used without object)
6. to be in debt: Neither lend nor owe. Who owes for the antipasto?
Origin:
bef. 900; ME owen to possess, be under obligation, have to pay; OE āgan to possess; c. OHG eigan, ON eiga. See own, ought 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To owing
owe   (ō)   
v.   owed, ow·ing, owes

v.   tr.

  1. To be indebted to the amount of: He owes me five dollars.

  2. To have a moral obligation to render or offer: I owe them an apology.

  3. To be in debt to: We owe the plumber for services rendered.

  4. To be indebted or obliged for: owed their riches to oil; owes her good health to diet and exercise.

  5. To bear (a certain feeling) toward a person or persons: You seem to owe your neighbors a grudge.

  6. Archaic To have as a possession; own.

v.   intr.
To be in debt: She still owes for the car.

[Middle English owen, from Old English āgan, to possess; see aik- in Indo-European roots.]
ow·ing   (ō'ĭng)   
adj.  Still to be paid; due.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

owe 
O.E. agan (pt. ahte) "to have, own," from P.Gmc. *aiganan "to possess" (cf. O.Fris. aga, O.N. eiga, O.H.G. eigan, Goth. aigan "to possess, have"), from PIE *aik- "to be master of, possess" (cf. Skt. ise "he owns," isah "owner, lord, ruler;" Avestan is- "riches," isvan- "well-off, rich"). Sense of "to have to repay" began in late O.E. with the phrase agan to geldanne lit. "to own to yield," which was used to translate L. debere (earlier in O.E. this would have been sceal "shall"); by c.1175 the phrase had been shortened to simply agan, and own (v.) took over this word's original sense. An original Gmc. preterite-present verb (cf. can, dare, may, etc.). New past tense form owed arose 15c. to replace oughte, which developed into ought (1).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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