poise
noun
- unit of dynamic viscosity
verb
- to balance
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /pɔɪz/
noun
Etymology: From French physicist and physiologist Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille.
- Unit of viscosity in the centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS).
verb
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.
- To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.
“The slender, graceful spars / Poise aloft in the air.”
- To counterpoise; to counterbalance.
“one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality”
“1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Dryden to poise with solid sense a sprightly wit”
- To be of a given weight; to weigh.
- To add weight to, to weigh down.
“Every man poiseth [translating poise] upon his fellowes sinne, and elevates his owne.”
- To hold (something) with or against something else in equilibrium; to balance, counterpose.
“you saw her faire none els being by, / Her selfe poysd with her selfe in either eye.”
- To hold (something) in equilibrium, to hold balanced and ready; to carry (something) ready to be used.
“I poised the crowbar in my hand, and waited.”
“to poise the scales of a balance”
- To keep (something) in equilibrium; to hold suspended or balanced.
“The rock was poised precariously on the edge of the cliff.”
- To ascertain, as if by balancing; to weigh.
“He cannot sincerely consider the strength, poise the weight, and discern the evidence.”