Definition of "own" []

• Of or belonging to oneself or itself: She makes her own clothes. (adjective)
• That which belongs to one: I wanted a room of my own. (noun)
• To have or possess as property: owns a chain of restaurants. (verb-transitive)
• To have control over: For a time, enemy planes owned the skies. (verb-transitive)
• To admit as being in accordance with fact, truth, or a claim; acknowledge. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Just as homosexuality combined with pre-modern medicine not going to pass on your own genes if you choose not to reproduce is likely to stop the passing on of _your own_ genes, but could improve the survival of those related to you- say you help raise your niece or nephew- asexuality might well improve social fitness."
• "For me, the most intellectually stimulating conversations of the year were with Fellows who spoke not of the most recent book they had read in their field or a lecture they had just heard on the very subject they deal with in their own university, but with those who were trying to relate knowledge and methods gained in some other field to their own…."
• "She received all attentions from the Royal Family as her due, and knew not how to draw the distinction between what was due to her own merit and what was given by these personages as due to their _own_ high standard of courtesy and compassion."