pose

Position, posture, arrangement (especially of the human body).

Noun

  1. Position, posture, arrangement (especially of the human body).
    • Please adopt a more graceful pose for my camera.
    • Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on...
  2. Affectation.

Origin

From Middle English posen, from Old French poser (“to put, place, stell, settle, lodge”), from Vulgar Latin pausāre (“to blin, cease, pause”), from Latin pausa (“pause”), from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis); influenced by Latin pōnere. Doublet of pause.

Forms

poses

Related

appose compose contrapose counterpose decompose depose dispose expose impose indispose juxtapose oppose postpose predispose prepose presuppose propose recompose repose superimpose superpose suppose transpose

Derived

banana pose child's pose cobra pose composite pose cool pose corpse pose crow pose multipose pigeon pose posedown poselet posey T pose T-pose triangle pose vacuum pose

Noun archaic

  1. Common cold, head cold; catarrh.
    • Now […] have we many chimnies, and yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses. - 1586, William Harrison, Description of England:
    • Megg yesterday was troubled with a pose, Which, this night hardned, sodders up her nose. - 1825, Robert Herrick, The poetical works of Robert Herrick:
    • The Ague, Cough, the Pyony, the Pose. Aches within, and accidents without, [...] - 1903, Thomas Heywood, Lucian (of Samosata.), Desiderius Erasmus, Pleasant Dialogues and Dramma's:

Origin

From Middle English pose, from Old English ġeposu pl (“cold in the head; catarrh”, literally “(the) sneezes; (the) snorts”), from Old English pos, ġepos (“sneeze, snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *pos, from Proto-Germanic *pusą (“sneeze, snort”), from Proto-Germanic *pusōną, *pusjaną (“to snort, blow”), from *pus- (“to blow, breathe hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Compare Low German pusten (“to blow, puff”), German dialectal pfausen (“to sneeze, snort”), Norwegian dialectal pysa (“to blow”).

Forms

poses

Verb Entry 3

  1. To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect.
    • To pose a model for a picture.
  2. To ask; to set (a test, quiz, riddle, etc.).
  3. To constitute (a danger, a threat, a risk, etc.).
    • Rather, they are concerned with the threat Iran poses to the region and the world. - 2010, Noam Chomsky, “The Iranian threat”, in Z Magazine, volume 23, number 7:
    • Rooney's United team-mate Chris Smalling was given his debut at right-back and was able to adjust to the international stage in relatively relaxed fashion as Bulgaria barely posed a threat of any consequence. - 2011...
    • The threat the most radical of them pose is evidently far greater at home than abroad. - 2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:
  4. To falsely impersonate (another person or occupation) primarily for the purpose of accomplishing something or reaching a goal.
  5. To assume or maintain a pose; to strike an attitude.
    • He […] posed before her as a hero. - 1840, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “A Shabby Genteel Story”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume IV, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC:
  6. To behave affectedly in order to attract interest or admiration.
    • dressed-to-kill babes and their sugar daddies would rather pose in malls, and teenagers can find McDonald's anywhere, leaving Váci utterly dependent on tourists for its livelihood and bustle. - 2002, Charles Hebbert,...
  7. To interrogate; to question.
    • She pretended to […] pose him and sift him. - 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew...
  8. To question with a view to puzzling; to embarrass by questioning or scrutiny; to bring to a stand.
    • A question wherewith a learned Pharisee thought to pose or puzzle him. - a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please...
    • The Doctor […] had likewise a pair of little eyes that were always half shut up, and a mouth that was always half expanded into a grin, as if he had, that moment, posed a boy, and were waiting to convict him from his...

Forms

poses posing posed

Related

puzzle

Derived

malpose posable poseable posingly posing pouch unpose

Verb obsolete

  1. To ask (someone) questions; to interrogate.
    • And hit fortuned that after .iii. dayes, they founde hym in the temple sittinge in the middes of the doctours, both hearynge them, and posinge them. - 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale...
    • 'Tis my solitary recreation to pose my apprehension with those involved Ænigmas and riddles of the Trinity, with Incarnation and Resurrection. - 1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The First Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th...
  2. to puzzle, non-plus, or embarrass with difficult questions.
  3. To perplex or confuse (someone).

Origin

From Middle English posen, a combination of aphetic forms of Middle English aposen and opposen. More at appose, oppose.

Forms

poses posing posed poze

Derived

poser

Wikipedia

pose