POISE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Poise

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/pɔɪz/ Listen

noun

Poise n. (Formerly written also peise)

1.

Weight; gravity; that which causes a body to descend; heaviness. "Weights of an extraordinary poise."

2.

The weight, or mass of metal, used in weighing, to balance the substance weighed.

3.

The state of being balanced by equal weight or power; equipoise; balance; equilibrium; rest.

4.

That which causes a balance; a counterweight. "Men of unbounded imagination often want the poise of judgment."

5.

A dignified and self-confident manner; graceful composure and tact in handling difficult social situations.

verb

Poise v. t. (past & past part. poised; pres. part. poising) (Formerly written also peise)

1.

To balance; to make of equal weight; as, to poise the scales of a balance.

2.

To hold or place in equilibrium or equiponderance. "Nor yet was earth suspended in the sky; Nor poised, did on her own foundation lie."

3.

To counterpoise; to counterbalance. "One scale of reason to poise another of sensuality." "To poise with solid sense a sprightly wit."

4.

To ascertain, as by the balance; to weigh. "He can not sincerely consider the strength, poise the weight, and discern the evidence."

5.

To weigh (down); to oppress. (Obs.) "Lest leaden slumber peise me down to-morrow."

Poise v. i. To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt. "The slender, graceful spars Poise aloft in air."

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Etymology of 'Poise'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Poise" Quotes from Famous Books

... our young friend, therefore, became a most peculiar one. He had been given an important preliminary advantage, if he chose to aspire to the love of the sweet one at his side; but he thought hard, and did not lose his self-poise or sense ...

— Brave Tom - The Battle That Won • Edward S. Ellis

... The steadiness of their poise and their silence in the presence of strangers is not due to moroseness or the absence of active thought. They have learned in the woods, if they are to be successful in their hunts, to be personally as unobtrusive as possible, often to remain motionless, and all the while to watch and listen ...

— Sergeant York And His People • Sam Cowan

... meantime for his breakfast, he entered readily and worked steadily and persistently through his third series of trials, but in no one of these trials did he choose correctly. Neither on this day nor the following did he exhibit resentment while at work. He apparently had regained his affective poise and was able to attend as formerly to the ...

— The Mental Life of Monkeys and Apes - A Study of Ideational Behavior • Robert M. Yerkes

... I should succeed so quickly, so easily, even with the help of one so powerful as Helen Merival. It is my fate to work for what I get." And with this return of his belief that to himself alone he must look for victory, his self-poise and self-confidence ...

— The Light of the Star - A Novel • Hamlin Garland

... to the fire, opened his pack, and spreading out his blanket, rolled himself in it with his feet close to the red embers. For a long time he lay awake. This episode took him back nearly a decade, to a time when he, like Danton, would have lost his poise at a glance from the nearest pair of eyes. That the maid should so interest him was in itself amusing. Had she been older or younger, had she been any but the timid, honest little woman that she was, he would have left her, without a second thought, in the care of the Commandant at ...

— The Road to Frontenac • Samuel Merwin

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