prop|er|ty

prop|er|ty «PROP uhr tee», noun, plural -ties.

1. a thing or things owned; possession or possessions: »

This house is that man's property. When the main forms of property are intangible the difficulty of defining rights and duties is much greater (Atlantic). He has developed a publication that is one of the “hottest properties” in publishing (Harper's).

2. ownership; the right of ownership.

3. a piece of land or real estate: »

a property on Main Street. He owns some property out West.

4. any object, such as a piece of furniture or a walking stick (but not scenery, clothing, nor stage, camera, or lighting equipment), that is used in staging a play, a motion-picture scene, a television show, or the like: »

The sofa was the first property to be put on the set. I will draw a bill of properties such as our play needs (Shakespeare).

5. a story on which a motion picture is based: »

Most properties come from such sources as novels, plays, and musical comedies (Arthur Knight).

6. Informal. an actor, athlete, or employee, under contract: »

Overnight the lanky Canadian turned into one of the most valuable “properties” in the music business (Maclean's).

7. quality or power belonging specially to something: »

Soap has the property of removing dirt. All bodies when placed in a suitably large magnetic field develop magnetic properties (W. D. Corner).

SYNONYM(S): See syn. under quality. (Cf. ↑quality)

8. Logic. a quality that is common to all the members of a class, but does not necessarily distinguish that class from other classes.

╂[Middle English proprete < Old French propriete < Latin proprietās < proprius one's own, proper. See etym. of doublet propriety. (Cf. ↑propriety)]

–prop´er|ty|less, adjective.

Synonym Study 1 Property, goods, effects mean what someone owns. Property means whatever someone legally owns, including land, buildings, animals, money, stocks, documents, objects, and rights: »

Property is taxable.

Goods means movable personal property, as distinguished from land and buildings, but applies chiefly to things of use in the house or on the land, such as furniture, furnishings, implements, never to money or papers: »

Professional movers packed our goods.

Effects means personal possessions, including goods, clothing, jewelry, personal belongings, and papers, often of one who has died: »

We gathered together his few effects to send them to his family. I packed our other effects.