possessivelyadv.
/pəˈzɛsᵻvli/, U.S. /pəˈzɛsᵻvli/ 1. Grammar. So as to express a possessive sense or relation; in a possessive case.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > case > [adverb] > genitivally
possessively1590
genitively1659
genitivally1856
1590 J. Stockwood Eng. Accidence 54 When the genitiue case is taken actiuely, when passiuely, and when possessiuely.
1661 Grand Deb. Rev. & Alteration Bk. Common Prayer 88 Nulla salus in nobis is spoken actively and not possessively or passively.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. iv. i. 396 Because there is a curve Line under these Points, that denotes this Pronoun to be here used Possessively, and consequently to signifie Our.
1879 W. D. Whitney Sanskrit Gram. 445 Possessively used descriptive compounds..are extremely numerous.
1893 Amer. Jrnl. Philol. 14 55 If used possessively, an s is added to the dative case: majn frajnds a buch ‘a book of my friend's’.
1932 Language 8 44 What is possessed by or belongs to a thing or person, follows in word order, and take a personal pronoun functioning possessively.
1986 Language 62 111 They [sc. adpositional phrases] are categorially (and often etymologically) identical to possessively inflected nouns.
2. In a possessive (now esp. a proprietorial) manner; as something possessed, as one's own; in the way of possession.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > [adverb]
possessively1778
1778 Case between Great Brit. & her Colonies ii. 51 To..authenticate the stamp of derived and delegated power, from that, possessively, underived and undelegated.
1813 J. C. Hobhouse Journey (ed. 2) 1021 A sale by auction of the tenths belonging to the Malikiane (or fiefs held possessively), under the annual value of fifteen thousand piasters.
1856 Sci. Amer. 5 Apr. 237/1 One man communicates an idea to another, and the recipient receives it into his mind, he cannot keep it out—it forces itself into it, and becomes his possessively, as much as his who communicated it to him.
a1861 E. B. Browning Poet. Wks (1897) 336 I love all who love truth, if poor or rich In what they have won of truth possessively.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 27 Apr. 2/1 He tapped the English lady possessively on the shoulder.
1934 M. Callaghan Such is my Beloved iii. 52 By the time they left the drug store she was hanging on to his arm, he was holding her hand possessively as though she were his girl.
1994 Afr. Environment & Wildlife Nov. 4 (advt.) The African fish eagle guards possessively over the wild waterways of our continent.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1590