c1450 ( J. Walton tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Linc. Cathedral 103) 204 (MED) N[o] wight myght haue verrey blisfulnesse Bot yf [h]e were in manere god also, Be lyknesse in possessing of þat blisse.

?1560 T. Norton Orations of Arsanes sig. Kii^v Vnder promise of..great wealth, and the possessing of Scanderbegs own land and inheritance, the Turke allured Amesa the greatest Duke vnder Scanderbeg in Epyrus.

1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David xxxvii. xix The righteous minds Shall haue the land in their possessing.

1631 J. Mabbe tr. F. de Rojas Spanish Bawd ii. 30 I tell you, Sir, and what I speake is truth; Better is the vse of riches, then the possessing of them.

1695 W. Congreve Love for Love iv. i. 74 Security is an insipid thing, and the overtaking and possessing of a Wish, discovers the Folly of the Chase.

1727 A. Pope Happy Life of Country Parson 42 in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. Parson, these Things in thy possessing Are better than the Bishop's Blessing.

1746 P. Francis & W. Dunkin tr. Horace Satires ii. vi. 10 I have enough in my possessing, 'Tis well.

1851 F. A. Fuller & M. V. Fuller Poems of Sentiment & Imagination 107 How simple blessings Make of joy a flowing measure! By and by, more dear possessings Scarce will be to you a pleasure.

1855 H. W. Herbert Wager of Battle xii. 143 Some higher purpose in mortality was acknowledged than the mere acquiring, some larger nobleness in man than the mere possessing, of unprofitable wealth.

1961 T. A. Goudge Ascent of Life iii. iii. 117 Differential survival resulting from the possessing of phenotypic and genotypic traits which render the organism viable.

1992 B. Bowman Master Space 7 The possessing of these unconscious spatial skills means that, when looking at film, we expect its illusion of space to have a visceral impact on us.

1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Pistles in tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Ej Collected coyne is Lord or lowte To eche possessinge man.

1694 E. Settle Ambitious Slave i. i. 2 Fair Herminia's prouder slave, comes blest With all the Joys of a possessing Lover.

1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 364 Seraphs and saints, and all-possessing souls, Which minister unto the universe.

1884 M. Arnold in Pall Mall Gaz. 1 Dec. 6/1 There is in the West the possessing, the spending, and the enjoying class.

1897 Daily News 6 Sept. 5/6 Only representatives of the privileged and possessing classes had been convoked.

1938 G. Greene in Spectator 12 Aug. 264/2 The theme too is roughly the same: the natural adolescent virtues decaying.., courage becoming toughness, the love of justice a hatred of the whole possessing world.

1971 I. Deutscher Marxism in our Time (1972) i. 21 The dictatorship of the proletariat..is to serve only one immediate purpose: the breaking down of the armed resistance of the former possessing classes.

1995 Harper's Mag. Jan. 7/1 The post-election sifting of the vote confirmed the pre-election impression of panic among the possessing classes.

1754 W. Wogan Ess. Proper Lesson Liturgy Church of Eng. II. 46 There was a resemblance in the punishment of the possessing spirit, and the animal possessed.

?1778 D. Garrick Let. July (1963) III. 1238 I have got rid of two or three possessing Devils & the great Devil of 'Em all... I shall be well Enough to see you in a day or two.

1839 H. Hallam Introd. Lit. Europe II. iv. 201 The political creed which actuates at present, as a possessing spirit, the great mass of the civilised world.

1868 J. E. Cooke Fairfax xxix. 144 His lips move as before, and utter the sad murmur which seems to indicate a possessing thought.

1888 Mrs. H. Ward Robert Elsmere III. vi. xl. 217 Newcome stood wrestling with himself. It was like the slow departure of a possessing force.

1902 W. M. Alexander Demonic Possession in New Test. v. 172 Nor did He..ascribe to possessing spirits moral influence over the possessed.

2003 Manila Bull. (Nexis) 26 Mar. In exorcism ritual, the possessing spirit is first identified by name and then driven out using its own name.

1887 E. Gurney Tertium Quid II. 70 We may note the degree of possessingness and permanence in the artistic impression.