occupy

Word family

Related topics: Military, Officials

oc·cu·py /ˈɒkjəpaɪ $ ˈɑːk-/ W2 AWL verb (occupied, occupying, occupies) [transitiveT]

1 stay in a place 住在某处LIVE SOMEWHERE to live or stay in a place 占据，居住

He occupies the house without paying any rent.

他住在这幢房子里，没有付一分钱房租。

The building was purchased and occupied by its new owners last year.

这幢房屋去年被新业主买下入住了。

2 fill time 占用时间 if something occupies you or your time, you are busy doing it 占用，占去〔时间〕

Football occupies most of my leisure time.

足球占去了我大部分的闲暇时间。

occupy somebody with (doing) something

Only six percent of police time is occupied with criminal incidents.

犯罪事件只占用6%的警务时间。

3 fill space 占据空间 to fill a particular amount of space 占用，占去〔空间〕 SYN take up

Family photos occupied almost the entire wall.

家人的照片差不多占了整个墙面。

In everyday English, people usually say that something takes up time or space rather than occupies it: 在日常英语中，表示某事物占用时间或空间时，人们一般说take up，而不说occupy

Work takes up most of her time.

工作占去了她的大部分时间。

That bed takes up almost the whole room.

那张床几乎占据了整个房间。

4 control by force 用武力占领PMENTER to enter a place in a large group and keep control of it, especially by military force 〔尤被军队〕占领，占据 → invade

an occupying army

占领军

Students occupied Sofia University on Monday.

星期一学生们占领了索非亚大学。

5 occupy somebody’s mind/thoughts/attention THINK ABOUTif something occupies your mind etc, you think about that thing more than anything else 占据某人的脑海/思想/注意力 → preoccupy

Work will occupy your mind and help you forget about him.

工作会占据你的思想，使你忘记他。

Examples from the Corpus

occupy somebody’s mind/thoughts/attention• While she waited, she tried to occupy her mind with pleasant thoughts of the vacation.

6 use 使用 to use something such as a room, seat, or bed 使用，占用〔房间、座位、床等〕

Many patients who are occupying hospital beds could be transferred to other places.

许多占用医院床位的病人都可以转往其他地方。

7 official position 正式职位BOPGO to have an official position or job 担任〔正式职位或工作〕 SYN hold

Before becoming prime minister, he had already occupied several cabinet posts.

成为首相之前，他已经出任过好几个内阁职位。

→ occupied

Examples from the Corpus

occupy• The loss of activity Work will have usually occupied a considerable part of an individual's life prior to retirement.• The cafe occupies a single dimly lit room.• Debates within the social sciences have occupied an intellectual space which has drawn upon both scientific models and the humanities.• Fishing occupies most of my spare time.• He, Kramer, occupied some uncertain position in the middle.• Agonists are substances which are so similar to a specific neurotransmitter they can occupy that neurotransmitter's receptor perfectly.• Movie stars occupy the large suites on the third floor.

occupy somebody with (doing) something• One-plant cultures of a single species developed vegetatively, occupying shallow brooks with a stony ground covered with sand, are typical.• Consequently many cathedral organists find themselves occupied increasingly with diocesan work.• Small households that don't use much water but occupy homes with high rateable values could be much better off.• Most hobbies cost some money, some a great deal, why not occupy time with machine knitting?• The rest of the day, she occupied herself with manufacturing chores to do.• Temporary relief from worry and anxiety can be achieved by totally occupying the mind with something else.• Over the next few weeks, Father Maier was occupied more with the political than with the priestly.• For the next four years he occupied himself primarily with writings in which he leveled attacks against enemies of the faith.

From Longman Business Dictionary