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/pɔɪzd/ Listen

verb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Etymology of 'Poised'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Poised" Quotes from Famous Books

... seen grandly floating on the air, or poised ready to strike a defenceless animal or crippled bird. The buzzard, of loathsome aspect, perched upon a blasted tree, waits for his gorged appetite to sharpen, that he may descend and fatten upon some putrid carcase. The river, narrow and tortuous, rolls its black ...

— Nick Baba's Last Drink and Other Sketches • George P. Goff

... But he had given more than pictures to the world. He had given himself in a crusade which had been born of high idealism and a sense of brotherhood. Day after day, night after night, his plane had hung, poised like an eagle, above the enemy. He had been one of the young gods who had set their strength and courage against the greed and grossness of ...

— The Trumpeter Swan • Temple Bailey

... Yet, with that instinct for the essential and vital which invariably possessed him, he gained a keen impression of it. It was of a delicately haggard child with a marvelously agreeable smile, a fine, high-poised head upon a thin neck, and an air of bored superiority. Combined with this was a touch of weariness about the eyelids which drooped in a lofty way. Cowperwood was fascinated. Because of the daughter he professed an interest in the mother, which he ...

— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser

... let your fire go out," said the colonel briskly. He had invaded the sitting-room at an unaccustomed hour, finding the lady at her letters as usual. She turned and held her pen poised above her paper as she ...

— The Desert and The Sown • Mary Hallock Foote

... upon two low wooden sidewalk steps stood Mrs. Riley, clad in a crisp black and white calico, a heavy, fat babe poised easily in one arm. The Doctor turned directly toward the narrow alley, merely touching his hat to her as he pushed its small green door inward, and disappeared, while she lifted her chin at the silent liberty ...

— Dr. Sevier • George W. Cable

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