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poise. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
poise, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From Middle English poys, poyse, from Anglo-Norman pois, Middle French pois (“weight”) and Anglo-Norman poise, Middle French poise (“measure of weight”), from Latin pēnsāre (“to ponder, weight, think”).
Pronunciation
Noun
poise (countable and uncountable, plural poises)
- A state of balance, equilibrium or stability.
1692, Richard Bentley, (please specify the sermon), London: [Thomas Parkhurst; Henry Mortlock], published 1692–1693:plants and animals, which are all made up of and nourished by water, and perhaps never return to water again, do not keep things at a poise
- Composure; freedom from embarrassment or affectation.
- Mien; bearing or deportment of the head or body.
- A condition of hovering, or being suspended.
- (physics) A CGS unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimetre.
1959, E. A. Apps, Printing Ink Technology, page 415:Letterpress and offset gloss varnishes normally have viscosities varying from 50 to 250 poises; they must stain the paper as little as possible, have insufficient tack to cause plucking, […]
- (obsolete) Weight; an amount of weight, the amount something weighs.
- The weight, or mass of metal, used in weighing, to balance the substance weighed.
- That which causes a balance; a counterweight.
1674 (date written), John Dryden, “The Authors Apology for Heroique Poetry; and Poetique Licence”, in The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man: An Opera. , London: T N for Henry Herringman, , published 1677, →OCLC, page 25:As for Hyperboles, I will neither quote Lucan, nor Statius, Men of an unbounded imagination, but who often wanted the Poyze of Judgement.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
That which causes a balance; a counterweight
state of balance, equilibrium or stability
composure; freedom from embarrassment or affectation
- Bulgarian: спокойствие (bg) n (spokojstvie)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 鎮定/镇定 (zh) (zhèndìng)
- Czech: vyrovnanost f, klid (cs) m, duševní rovnováha
- Finnish: itsevarmuus (fi), arvokkuus (fi), luontevuus (fi)
- French: assurance (fr) f, aisance (fr) f, sang-froid (fr) m, aplomb (fr) m
- German: Gelassenheit (de) f, Fassung (de) f
- Hungarian: higgadtság (hu), összeszedettség, önuralom (hu), józanság (hu), hidegvér (hu), nyugalom (hu), nyugodtság (hu), kiegyensúlyozottság (hu)
- Occitan: ponderacion, balança (oc)
- Portuguese: compostura (pt)
- Russian: уравнове́шенность (ru) f (uravnovéšennostʹ)
- Spanish: ponderación f
- Turkish: soğukkanlılık (tr), hakimiyet (tr)
- Ukrainian: врівноваженість f (vrivnovaženistʹ)
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mien; bearing or deportment of the head or body
a condition of hovering, or being suspended
a cgs unit of dynamic viscosity
Verb
poise (third-person singular simple present poises, present participle poising, simple past and past participle poised)
- (obsolete) To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.
- (obsolete) To counterpoise; to counterbalance.
c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality
- 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Dryden
- to poise with solid sense a sprightly wit
- (obsolete) To be of a given weight; to weigh.
- (obsolete) To add weight to, to weigh down.
- (now rare) To hold (something) with or against something else in equilibrium; to balance, counterpose.
c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:you saw her faire none els being by, / Her selfe poysd with her selfe in either eye.
- To hold (something) in equilibrium, to hold balanced and ready; to carry (something) ready to be used.
I poised the crowbar in my hand, and waited.
to poise the scales of a balance
1964 November, J. H. Lucking, “The Salisbury-Exeter rationalisation—first results and local reaction”, in Modern Railways, page 331:The intention to close [Yeovil] Pen Mill was therefore abandoned and instead the economy axe was re-poised over Yeovil Junction.
- To keep (something) in equilibrium; to hold suspended or balanced.
The rock was poised precariously on the edge of the cliff.
- To ascertain, as if by balancing; to weigh.
1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: J Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, , published 1727, →OCLC:He cannot sincerely consider the strength, poise the weight, and discern the evidence.
Derived terms
Translations
to hold balanced and ready; to carry (something) ready to be used
to keep (something) in equilibrium; to hold suspended or balanced
Further reading
Anagrams
Old French
Alternative forms
Noun
poise oblique singular, f (oblique plural poises, nominative singular poise, nominative plural poises)
- weight
- a unit of measure of unknown value (which presumably varied because of the technology of the time)
Descendants
References
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (poise)
Portuguese
Verb
poise
- inflection of poisar:
- first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- third-person singular imperative