have it
English edit
Verb edit
have it (third-person singular simple present has it, present participle having it, simple past and past participle had it)
- To state or hold as true.
- Conventional wisdom has it that heat rises, but in fact heat diffuses: hot air rises.
- 1936, The Elevator Constructor, volume 33, page 38:
- Yet he was kidnapped and "taken for a ride" in the fashion which Al Capone did so much to popularize in Chicago; and one story has it that he was shot only because the rope with which he was to have been hanged did not arrive in time.
- (chiefly in the negative) To accept (an excuse, a behavior, etc).
- 2010, Nduka Onwuegbute, Masters of the Confluence, page 19:
- Like her growing mid section, the stone was bulging in the middle. She had seen it as she walked out of Ngozi's palace. Ngozi had grilled her about who the father of her baby was, since she was known to be unmarried. Uzo'ma had insisted on keeping the identity of the father secret and Ngozi was not having it.
- He tried to make excuses but she wouldn't have it / was not having it / was having none of it.
- To be the object of ridicule, rebuke, critique, etc.
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
- "Well, I expect you are going to let us have it," he laughed. "We are used to it Mr. Malone. We don't mind. But you will see the turn some day. These articles may rise up in judgement." "I will treat it fairly, I assure you." "Well, we ask no more."
- To possess some desirable quality or ability.
- I was nervous about her performing on stage, but after all these years, she still has it.
Related terms edit
Translations edit
to understand or believe
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.