pose
Pronunciation
  • (America) IPA: /poʊz/
  • (RP) IPA: /pəʊz/
Noun

pose (plural poses)

  1. (archaic) Common cold, head cold; catarrh.
    • 1586, William Harrison (priest), A Description of England
      Now […] have we many chimnies, and yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses.
    • 1825, Robert Herrick, The poetical works of Robert Herrick:
      Megg yesterday was troubled with a pose, Which, this night hardned, sodders up her nose.
    • 1903, Thomas Heywood, Lucian (of Samosata.), Desiderius Erasmus, Pleasant Dialogues and Dramma's
      The Ague, Cough, the Pyony, the Pose. Aches within, and accidents without, [...]
    • 2009, Eucharius Rösslin, Thomas Raynalde, Elaine Hobby, The Birth of Mankind
      And whereas some say, that they which use oft washing of their heads shall be very prone to headache, that is not true, but only in such that, after they have been washed, roll up their hair (being yet wet) about their heads; the cold whereof is dangerous to bring them to catarrhs and poses, with other inconveniences.
Verb

pose (poses, present participle posing; past and past participle posed)

  1. (transitive) To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect.
    To pose a model for a picture.
  2. (transitive) To ask; to set (a test, quiz, riddle, etc.).
  3. (transitive) To constitute (a danger, a threat, a risk, etc.).
    • 2010, Noam Chomsky, The Iranian threat, Z Magazine, vol 23, number 7:
      Rather, they are concerned with the threat Iran poses to the region and the world.
    • 2014, Ian Black, "Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis ↗", The Guardian, 27 November 2014:
      The threat the most radical of them pose is evidently far greater at home than abroad
  4. (intransitive) To assume or maintain a pose; to strike an attitude.
    • He […] posed before her as a hero.
  5. (intransitive) To behave affectedly in order to attract interest or admiration.
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To interrogate; to question.
    • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: Printed by W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, OCLC 1086746628 ↗:
      She pretended to […] pose him and sift him.
  7. (obsolete, transitive) 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 and puzzle him.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

pose (plural poses)

  1. Position, posture, arrangement (especially of the human body).
    Please adopt a more graceful pose for my camera.
  2. Affectation.
Translations Translations
  • Portuguese: pose
  • Russian: по́за
Verb

pose (poses, present participle posing; past and past participle posed)

  1. (obsolete) To ask (someone) questions; to interrogate.
    • 1526, William Tyndale (translator), Bible, Luke 2
      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.
    • 1643, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, I.9
      'Tis my solitary recreation to pose my apprehension with those involved Ænigmas and riddles of the Trinity, with Incarnation and Resurrection.
  2. (now rare) to puzzle, non-plus, or embarrass with difficult questions.
  3. (now rare) To perplex or confuse (someone).



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