occupy

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To fill or take up a space or amount of time.

   The new sofa occupies most of the living room.

2. 2
   verb

   To keep someone busy or fill their attention.

   The puzzle occupied the children for the whole afternoon.

3. 3
   verb

   To live or work in a place.

   A young couple now occupies the flat upstairs.

4. 4
   verb

   To enter and take control of a place by military force.

   Soldiers occupied the town within hours.

From Middle English occupien, occupyen, borrowed from Old French occuper, from Latin occupāre (“to take possession of, seize, occupy, take up, employ”), from ob (“to, on”) + capiō (“to take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to seize, grab”). Doublet of occupate, now obsolete.

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