BELONG

belong

(verb) be owned by; be in the possession of; “This book belongs to me”

belong

(verb) be rightly classified in a class or category; “The whales belong among the mammals”

belong

(verb) be suitable or acceptable; “This student somehow doesn’t belong”

belong, go

(verb) be in the right place or situation; “Where do these books belong?”; “Let’s put health care where it belongs--under the control of the government”; “Where do these books go?”

belong

(verb) be a member, adherent, inhabitant, etc. (of a group, organization, or place); “They belong to the same political party”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Verb

belong (third-person singular simple present belongs, present participle belonging, simple past and past participle belonged)

(intransitive) To have its proper place.

(of a person) To be accepted in a group.

(followed by to) To be a part of a group.

(intransitive, followed by to) To be part of, or the property of.

(intransitive, followed by to) To be the spouse or partner of.

(intransitive, set theory) (followed by to) To be an element of (a set). The symbol $$\in $$ means belongs to.

Suppose $$x$$ belongs to $$\mathbb{R}$$ .. (— written: $$x \in \mathbb{R}$$ )

(obsolete, transitive) To be deserved by.

Usage notes

• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See

Etymology 2

Preposition

belong

(Australian Aboriginal, optionally followed by to) Of, belonging to.

Source: Wiktionary

Be*long", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Belonged; p. pr. & vb. n. Belonging.] Etym: [OE. belongen (akin to D. belangen to concern, G. belangen to attain to, to concern); pref. be- + longen to desire. See Long, v. i.]

Note: [Usually construed with to.]

1. To be the property of; as, Jamaica belongs to Great Britain.

2. To be a part of, or connected with; to be appendant or related; to owe allegiance or service. A desert place belonging to . . . Bethsaids. Luke ix. 10. The mighty men which belonged to David. 1 Kings i. 8.

3. To be the concern or proper business or function of; to appertain to. "Do not interpretations belong to God " Gen. xl. 8.

4. To be suitable for; to be due to. Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age. Heb. v. 14. No blame belongs to thee. Shak.

5. To be native to, or an inhabitant of; esp. to have a legal residence, settlement, or inhabitancy, whether by birth or operation of law, so as to be entitled to maintenance by the parish or town. Bastards also are settled in the parishes to which the mothers belong. Blackstone.

Be*long", v. t.

Definition: To be deserved by. [Obs.] More evils belong us than happen to us. B. Jonson.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition