Dictionaries › English

poise

Pronunciation: /pɔɪz/

The English word “poise” has 17 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A state of balance, equilibrium or stability.
  2. Composure; freedom from embarrassment or affectation.
  3. Mien; bearing or deportment of the head or body.
  4. A condition of hovering, or being suspended.
  5. A CGS unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimetre.
  6. Weight; an amount of weight, the amount something weighs.
  7. The weight, or mass of metal, used in weighing, to balance the substance weighed.
  8. That which causes a balance; a counterweight.
  9. Unit of viscosity in the centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS).

verb

  1. To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.
  2. To counterpoise; to counterbalance.
  3. To be of a given weight; to weigh.
  4. To add weight to, to weigh down.
  5. To hold (something) with or against something else in equilibrium; to balance, counterpose.
  6. To hold (something) in equilibrium, to hold balanced and ready; to carry (something) ready to be used.
  7. To keep (something) in equilibrium; to hold suspended or balanced.
  8. To ascertain, as if by balancing; to weigh.

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 pendere (“to weigh, ponder, think”). Doublet of peise.

Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “poise” there

More English words

About this dictionary

The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.

Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.