owe

/oʊ/

/əʊ/

Other forms: owing; owed; owes

People owe things when they're in debt to someone. A friend can owe you a favor, and your employer owes you a paycheck.

When you talk about owing, it has to do with what someone deserves from someone else. If you borrow library books, you owe them to the library after a few weeks. When you take out a loan, you owe that money to the bank. You can also owe favors and more abstract things. If a friend did something bad to you, but they've been your friend a long time, you probably owe them a second chance.

Definitions of owe

1. verb

   be obliged to pay or repay
   types:

   chalk up, run up

   accumulate as a debt
2. verb

   be in debt
   “She owes me $200”

   “I still owe for the car”

   “The thesis owes much to his adviser”

   types:

   mortgage

   put up as security or collateral

   bond

   issue bonds on

   type of:

   be

   have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
3. verb

   be indebted to, in an abstract or intellectual sense
   “This new theory owes much to Einstein's Relativity Theory”

   type of:

   build on, build upon, repose on, rest on

   be based on; of theories and claims, for example