(~s)
1.
If you are in ~ of something, you have it, because you have obtained it or because it belongs to you. (FORMAL)
Those documents are now in the ~ of the Guardian...
We should go up and take ~ of the land...
He was also charged with illegal ~ of firearms...
N-UNCOUNT: oft in N of n
2.
Your ~s are the things that you own or have with you at a particular time.
People had lost their homes and all their ~s...
She had tidied away her ~s.
= belongings
N-COUNT: usu pl, poss N
3.
A country’s ~s are countries or territories that it controls. (FORMAL)
All of them were French ~s at one time or another.
= colonies
N-COUNT: usu pl, supp N