1. Be obliged to pay or repay
   "He owes the bank a large sum of money"; "She still owes her friend for the concert tickets"
    
2. Be in debt
   "The thesis owes much to his adviser"; "She owes me $200"; "I still owe for the car"
    
3. Be indebted to, in an abstract or intellectual sense
   "This new theory owes much to Einstein's Relativity Theory"

Sounds like: overseas, oves, ow

Derived forms: owed, owes, owing

Type of: build on, build upon, relate, repose on, rest on

Encyclopedia: Owe, David