OWN

v 1. to defeat someone severely in a verbal argument or in a competition. To "put someone in their place." Used frequently in online gaming. When used to describe a verbal argument, the term is generally used to describe a situation in which one person attempts to deal a closing blow in the argument, but is shot down by evidence that completely destroys the foundation of that person's argument. Possibly originates from computer "cracker" slang: "own root," which means that one "owns" the system administrator account, typically by possessing its password. Also spelled pwn, pwned, etc. ("You just got owned!" "I just owned you!") Submitted by Clay Webber, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 29-12-2002 and Patrick Moore, San Francisco, CA, USA, 27-11-2002.