"one who owns, one who has legal or rightful title," mid-14c., ouner, agent noun from own (v.). The Old English word was agnere.

"having no owner," 1792, from owner + -less.

"state of being an owner; the right by which a thing belongs specifically to some person or body," 1580s, from owner + -ship. Ownership society, a concept combining the values of personal responsibility and economic freedom (2003) was popularized by U.S. president George W. Bush.

"the domestic Bos taurus" (commonly meaning the castrated males, used to pull loads or for food), Middle English oxe, from Old English oxa "ox" (plural oxan), from Proto-Germanic *ukhson (source also of Old Norse oxi, Old Frisian oxa, Middle Dutch osse, Old Saxon, Old High German ohso, German Ochse, Gothic auhsa), from PIE *uks-en- "male animal," (source also of Welsh ych "ox," Middle Irish oss "stag," Sanskrit uksa, Avestan uxshan- "ox, bull"), said to be from root *uks- "to sprinkle," related to *ugw- "wet, moist." The animal word, then, is literally "besprinkler."

Also used from late Old English of the wild, undomesticated bovines. The black ox "misfortune, adversity, old age," etc., is by 1540s.

"having large, full eyes," 1620s, from ox + -eyed. An epithet used by Homer (boōpis) of the goddess Hera (Juno) and beautiful women. Oxeye has since c. 1400 been a name given to various flowering plants thought to resemble the eye of an ox; it is also used of certain birds, fishes, and a type of mirror.

"bitter fluid secreted by the liver of an ox, used in paints and coloring," 1630s, from ox + gall (n.1).

also oxherd, "a keeper or herder of oxen," late 14c. (late 13c. as a surname), from ox + herd (n.2).

"the hide of an ox," mid-14c., from ox + hide (n.1).

also oxtongue, "plant of the borage family with rough, tongue-shaped leaves," early 14c., oxe-tunge, from ox + tongue (n.).

1791, in oxalic acid, a violently poisonous substance found in many plants and used in dyeing, bleaching, and printing, from French oxalique (1787, Lavoisier), literally "of or pertaining to sorrel," from Latin oxalis "sorrel," from Greek oxalis, from oxys "sharp" (from PIE root *ak- "be sharp, rise (out) to a point, pierce"). So called because it occurs in sorrel and was first isolated from it.