occupying

oc·cu·py  (ky-p)

tr.v. oc·cu·pied, oc·cu·py·ing, oc·cu·pies

1. To fill up (time or space): a lecture that occupied three hours.

2. To dwell or reside in.

3. To hold or fill (an office or position).

4. To seize possession of and maintain control over by or as if by conquest.

5. To engage or employ the attention or concentration of: occupied the children with coloring books.

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[Middle English occupien, alteration of Old French occuper, from Latin occupre, to seize : ob-, intensive pref.; see ob- + capere, to take; see kap- in Indo-European roots.]

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occu·pier n.