Already owned or controlled in advance; having prior possession of something before a particular event or time.
From Old English 'fore-' (before) + 'possessed' (past participle of possess, from Latin possidere meaning 'to hold'). The prefix 'fore-' combined with 'possessed' to indicate prior ownership or control established beforehand.
This word shows how English loves building new meanings by stacking prefixes—'fore-' appears in hundreds of verbs and adjectives to mean 'before' or 'in advance,' creating a whole universe of anticipatory meanings that Shakespeare and medieval writers used constantly.
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