ownah

English

Noun

ownah (plural ownahs)

1. (African-American Vernacular) Pronunciation spelling of owner.
   • 1924, The Fighting Coward:

     "And yeah comes the ownah of dis place — Gen'l O'lando Jackson–th' no-tor-ious fightah!"

   • 1929, Forest and Stream:

     "Ownah? Man, dey ain't no ownah! Dem chickins is wild. Dem's prairah chickins, man, prairah chickins."

   • 1967, William Matthews Johnson, The House on Corbett Street: A Novel of Negro Stirrings Amid Discontent:

     He called the ownah right away on the telephone, an when the ownah got down there he found out that all the cash money had been took outa the safe.

   • 2017, Work Projects Administration, THE VOICES FROM THE MARGINS: Authentic Recorded Life Stories by Former Slaves from 17 American States: True Life Stories from Hundreds of African Americans in South about Their Life in Slavery and after the Liberation, e-artnow, →ISBN:

     We took ouah name from ouah ownah, and we lived in a cabin way back of the big house, me and mah pappy and mammy and two brothahs..