Careful Words

own (n.)

own (v.)

own (adv.)

own (adj.)

  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?

New Testament: Matthew xx. 15.

  Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his own.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Henry V. Act iv. Sc. 1.

  But God, who is able to prevail, wrestled with him; marked him for his own.

Izaak Walton (1593-1683): Life of Donne.

  I own the soft impeachment.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): The Rivals. Act v. Sc. 3.

He would not, with a peremptory tone,

Assert the nose upon his face his own.

William Cowper (1731-1800): Conversation. Line 121.