had

verb

1. (form-of, participle, past)simple past and past participle of have

   “This morning I had an egg for breakfast.”

   “A good time was had by all.”

   “About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton,[…].”

2. (auxiliary)Used to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past.

   “I felt sure that I had seen him before.”

   “When I'd (already) done some exercise, I had a cappuccino.”

   “Cooper seems an odd choice, but imagine if they had taken MTV's advice and chosen Robert Pattinson?”

3. (archaic, auxiliary)As past subjunctive: would have.

   “Had I not known you were coming this evening, I'd have left at midday.”

   “To holde myne honde, by God, I had grete payne; / For forthwyth there I had him slayne, / But that I drede mordre wolde come oute[…].”

   “Julius Cæsar had escaped death, if going to the Senate-house, that day wherein he was murthered by the Conspirators, he had read a memorial which was presented unto him.”

   “If all was good and fair we met, / This earth had been the Paradise / It never look’d to human eyes / Since our first Sun arose and set.”

   “CAESAR (smiling). Of course I had rather you stayed.”