OWNER (owner)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: owner   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does owner mean? 

• OWNER (noun)
  The noun OWNER has 2 senses:

1. (law) someone who owns (is legal possessor of) a business

2. a person who owns something

  Familiarity information: OWNER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OWNER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(law) someone who owns (is legal possessor of) a business

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

owner; proprietor

Context example:

he is the owner of a chain of restaurants

Hypernyms ("owner" is a kind of...):

businessman; man of affairs (a person engaged in commercial or industrial business (especially an owner or executive))

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "owner"):

bookseller (the proprietor of a bookstore)

lease giver; lessor (someone who grants a lease)

letter (owner who lets another person use something (housing usually) for hire)

patron (the proprietor of an inn)

proprietress (a woman proprietor)

newspaper publisher; publisher (the proprietor of a newspaper)

renter (an owner of property who receives payment for its use by another person)

restauranter; restaurateur (the proprietor of a restaurant)

saloon keeper (the proprietor of a saloon)

timberman (an owner or manager of a company that is engaged in lumbering)

Derivation:

own (have ownership or possession of)

ownership (the act of having and controlling property)

ownership (the relation of an owner to the thing possessed; possession with the right to transfer possession to others)

ownership (the state or fact of being an owner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who owns something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

owner; possessor

Context example:

who is the owner of that friendly smile?

Hypernyms ("owner" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "owner"):

holder (a person who holds something)

homeowner; householder (someone who owns a home)

part-owner (a person who owns something in common with others)

saver (someone who saves (especially money))

shipowner (someone who owns a ship or a share in a ship)

Derivation:

own (have ownership or possession of)

ownership (the act of having and controlling property)

ownership (the relation of an owner to the thing possessed; possession with the right to transfer possession to others)

ownership (the state or fact of being an owner)

 Context examples 

He did look at it, and into it for half-an-hour—was pleased with the situation and the principal rooms, satisfied with what the owner said in its praise, and took it immediately.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Which surely he restored to their owner?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And when that owner come back from his holiday in Switzerland he find only an empty hole where his house had been.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"Won't he run away?" his new owner asked.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Every little plot in the garden soon had its owner.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I bought it in your presence from the owner—and there it lies.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An organization comprised of all owners of units in the development.

(Homeowners Association, NCI Thesaurus)

As referee I order that the men be withdrawn, and that the stakes be returned to their owners.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We have surveyed in areas that traditional owners knew there were night parrots there, said Watson.

(Aboriginal Rangers Find Evidence of One of Australia’s Rarest Birds, VOA)

I knew very well that the owner would think that they had lost their bearings in the haze, and had drifted off out to sea.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)