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poise

1 American  
[poiz] / pɔɪz /

noun

  1. a dignified, self-confident manner or bearing; composure; self-possession.

    to show poise in company.
    Synonyms:
    refinement, grace, polish, self-confidence

  2. steadiness; stability.

    intellectual poise.
    Antonyms:
    instability

  3. a state of balance or equilibrium, as from equality or equal distribution of weight; equipoise.

    Antonyms:
    imbalance, disequilibrium

  4. suspense or wavering, as between rest and motion or two phases of motion.

    the poise of the tides.

  5. the way of being poised, held, or carried.

  6. the state or position of hovering.

    the poise of a bird in the air.

verb (used with object)

poised, poising

  1. to adjust, hold, or carry in equilibrium; balance evenly.

  2. to hold supported or raised, as in position for casting, using, etc..

    to poise a spear.

  3. to hold or carry in a particular manner.

    She walked, carefully poising a water jug on her head.

  4. to put (a person or thing) in a state or position of readiness or preparedness: The mayor is credited with poising the city for impressive growth and development.

    He has poised himself to succeed.

    The mayor is credited with poising the city for impressive growth and development.

  5. Obsolete. to weigh.

verb (used without object)

poised, poising

  1. to rest in equilibrium; be balanced.

  2. to hover, as a bird in the air.

poise 2 American  
[pwahz] / pwɑz /

noun

Physics.

  1. a centimeter-gram-second unit of viscosity, equal to the viscosity of a fluid in which a stress of one dyne per square centimeter is required to maintain a difference of velocity of one centimeter per second between two parallel planes in the fluid that lie in the direction of flow and are separated by a distance of one centimeter. P

poise 1 British  
/ pɔɪz /

noun

  1. composure or dignity of manner

  2. physical balance or assurance in movement or bearing

  3. the state of being balanced or stable; equilibrium; stability

  4. the position of hovering

  5. suspense or indecision

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. to be or cause to be balanced or suspended

  2. (tr) to hold, as in readiness

    to poise a lance

  3. (tr) a rare word for weigh 1

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
poise 2 British  
/ pɔɪz, pwɑːz /

noun

  1.  P.  the cgs unit of viscosity; the viscosity of a fluid in which a tangential force of 1 dyne per square centimetre maintains a difference in velocity of 1 centimetre per second between two parallel planes 1 centimetre apart. It is equivalent to 0.1 newton second per square metre

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
poise Scientific  
/ poiz,pwäz /

  1. The unit of dynamic viscosity in the centimeter-gram-second system, equal to one dyne-second per square centimeter, or 0.1 pascal-seconds.

Etymology

Origin of poise1

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English noun pois(e) “weight,” from Old French ( French poids ), from Late Latin pēnsum, noun use of neuter past participle of Latin pendere “to weigh”; Middle English verb poisen “to weigh,” from Old French poiser, variant, based on tonic stem, of peser, from Latin pēnsāre, frequentative of pendere

Origin of poise2

First recorded in 1910–15; from French; named after Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille (1799–1869), French physician

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Seeded behind only Detroit, Boston appears poised for a deep playoff run—a prospect that gets even more intriguing at the prospect of Tatum’s return.

From The Wall Street Journal

Slot has suggested Florian Wirtz is poised to miss the back-to-back games against Wolves this week because of the back injury he sustained in the warm-up against Nottingham Forest last weekend.

From BBC

So far, oil prices appear poised for a big move when the market reopens Sunday evening in New York.

From MarketWatch

So far, oil prices appear poised for a big move when the market reopens Sunday evening in New York.

From MarketWatch

Nvidia plans to unveil a new processor specially tailored to help OpenAI and other customers build faster, more efficient tools, a major shake-up to its business that is poised to reset the AI race.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.