Own. n.s. [aʒen, Saxon; eygen, Dutch.]

1. This is a word of no other use than as it is added to the possessive pronouns, my, thy, his, our, your, their. It seems to be a substantive; as, my own, my peculiar: but is, in reality, the participle passive of the verb owe, in the participle owen or own: my own; the thing owned by, or belonging to me.

               Inachus in his cave alone,
   Wept not another's losses, but his own. Dryden.

2. It is added generally by way of emphasis or corroboration.

               I yet never was forsworn,
   Scarcely have coveted what was my own. Shakesp.

   Every nation made gods of their own, and put them in high places. 2 Kings xvii. 29.

   For my own share one beauty I design,
   Engage your honours that she shall be mine. Dryden.

   It is conceit rather than understanding, if it must be under the restraint of receiving and holding opinions by the authority of any thing but their own perceived evidence. Locke.

   Will she thy linen wash, or hosen darn,
   And knit thee gloves made of her own spun yarn. Gay.

   Passion and pride were to her soul unknown,
   Convinc'd that virtue only is our own. Pope.

3. Sometimes it is added to note opposition or contradistinction; domestick; not foreign; mine, his, or yours; not another's.

   These toils abroad, these tumults with his own,
   Fell in the revolution of one year. Daniel.

   There's nothing sillier than a crafty knave out-witted, and beaten at his own play. L'Estrange.