poise

== English == === Pronunciation === enPR: poyz, IPA(key): /pɔɪz/ Rhymes: -ɔɪz === Etymology 1 === 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. ==== Noun ==== poise (countable and uncountable, plural poises) A state of balance, equilibrium or stability. 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. (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. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Related terms ===== peso pansy pensive avoirdupois ===== Translations ===== ==== 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. 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Dryden to poise with solid sense a sprightly wit (obsolete) To be of a given weight; to weigh. [14th–17th c.] (obsolete) To add weight to, to weigh down. [16th–18th c.] (now rare) To hold (something) with or against something else in equilibrium; to balance, counterpose. [from 16th c.] To hold (something) in equilibrium, to hold balanced and ready; to carry (something) ready to be used. [from 16th c.] To keep (something) in equilibrium; to hold suspended or balanced. [from 17th c.] To ascertain, as if by balancing; to weigh. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From French physicist and physiologist Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille. ==== Noun ==== poise (plural poises) Unit of viscosity in the centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). === Further reading === poise on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Anagrams === speoi == Old French == === Alternative forms === peise (Anglo-Norman) === 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 ==== → English: poise === References === Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “poise”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC. == Portuguese == === Verb === poise inflection of poisar: first/third-person singular present subjunctive third-person singular imperative