poise
/pɔɪz/ verb C2- 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/she/it poises · Past poised · Past participle poised · -ing form poising
Verb forms
- Base form
- poise
- He/she/it
- poises
- Past
- poised
- Past participle
- poised
- -ing form
- poising
From the library
The child she had learned to love had vanished somehow and here was this tall, serious-eyed girl of fifteen, with the thoughtful brows and the proudly poised little head, in her place.
Something of his birthplace seemed to cling to the man, and I never looked at his pale, keen face or the poise of his head without associating him with grey archways and mullioned windows and all the venerable wreckage of a feudal keep.
There was no mistaking the poise of the head, the squareness of the shoulders, the sharpness of the features.
On the summit, hard and clear like an equestrian statue upon its pedestal, was a mounted soldier, dark and stern, his rifle poised ready over his forearm.
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