Nearby Words

owing

[oh-ing] Origin

ow·ing

[oh-ing]
adjective
1.
owed, unpaid, or due for payment: to pay what is owing.
2.
owing to, because of; as a result of: Owing to a mistake in the payroll department, some of us were issued incorrect checks.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Owing is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

Origin:
1325–75; Middle English; see owe, -ing2

un·ow·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged

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:
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

1. O, oh, owe; 2. ode, owed.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To owing
Collins
World English Dictionary
owing (ˈəʊɪŋ)
 
adj
1.  (postpositive) owed; due
2.  (preposition) owing to because of or on account of

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

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
EXPAND
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).
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature