Adjacent Words

Pose definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

POSE, n. s as z. [See the Verb.] In heraldry, a lion, horse or other beast standing still, with all his feet on the ground.
POSE, n. s as z. A stuffing of the head; catarrh.
POSE, v.t. s as z. [L. posui.]
1. To puzzle, [a word of the same origin;] to set; to put to a stand or stop; to gravel.
Learning was pos'd, philosophy was set.
I design not to pose them with those common enigmas of magnetism.
2. To puzzle or put to a stand by asking difficult questions; to set by questions; hence, to interrogate closely, or with a view to scrutiny.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: affected manners intended to impress others; "don't put on airs with me" [syn: airs, pose]
2: a posture assumed by models for photographic or artistic purposes
3: a deliberate pretense or exaggerated display [syn: affectation, mannerism, pose, affectedness] v
1: introduce; "This poses an interesting question" [syn: present, pose]
2: assume a posture as for artistic purposes; "We don't know the woman who posed for Leonardo so often" [syn: model, pose, sit, posture]
3: pretend to be someone you are not; sometimes with fraudulent intentions; "She posed as the Czar's daughter" [syn: pose, impersonate, personate]
4: behave affectedly or unnaturally in order to impress others; "Don't pay any attention to him--he is always posing to impress his peers!"; "She postured and made a total fool of herself" [syn: pose, posture]
5: put into a certain place or abstract location; "Put your things here"; "Set the tray down"; "Set the dogs on the scent of the missing children"; "Place emphasis on a certain point" [syn: put, set, place, pose, position, lay]
6: be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"; "This question really stuck me" [syn: perplex, vex, stick, get, puzzle, mystify, baffle, beat, pose, bewilder, flummox, stupefy, nonplus, gravel, amaze, dumbfound]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (posed; posing) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French poser, from Vulgar Latin *pausare, from Late Latin, to stop, rest, pause, from Latin pausa pause Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to set forth or offer for attention or consideration <let me pose a question> b. to come to attention as ; present <smoking poses a health risk> 2. a. to put or set in place b. to place (as a model) in a studied attitude intransitive verb 1. to assume a posture or attitude usually for artistic purposes 2. to affect an attitude or character usually to deceive or impress <posed as a doctor to gain access to the ward> II. noun Date: 1818 1. a sustained posture; especially one assumed for artistic effect 2. an attitude, role, or characteristic assumed for effect Synonyms: pose, air, airs, affectation, mannerism mean an adopted way of speaking or behaving. pose implies an attitude deliberately assumed in order to impress others <her shyness was just a pose>. air may suggest natural acquirement through environment or way of life <a traveler's sophisticated air>. airs always implies artificiality and pretentiousness <snobbish airs>. affectation applies to a trick of speech or behavior that strikes the observer as insincere <the posh accent is an affectation>. mannerism applies to an acquired eccentricity that has become a habit <gesturing with a cigarette was her most noticeable mannerism>. III. transitive verb (posed; posing) Etymology: short for earlier appose, from Middle English apposen, alteration of opposen to oppose Date: 1593 puzzle, baffle

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. & n. --v. 1 intr. assume a certain attitude of body, esp. when being photographed or being painted for a portrait. 2 intr. (foll. by as) set oneself up as or pretend to be (another person etc.) (posing as a celebrity). 3 intr. behave affectedly in order to impress others. 4 tr. put forward or present (a question etc.). 5 tr. place (an artist's model etc.) in a certain attitude or position. --n. 1 an attitude of body or mind. 2 an attitude or pretence, esp. one assumed for effect (his generosity is a mere pose). Etymology: F poser (v.), pose (n.) f. LL pausare PAUSE: some senses by confusion with L ponere place (cf. COMPOSE) 2. v.tr. puzzle (a person) with a question or problem. Etymology: obs. appose f. OF aposer var. of oposer OPPOSE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pose Pose, v. i. To assume and maintain a studied attitude, with studied arrangement of drapery; to strike an attitude; to attitudinize; figuratively, to assume or affect a certain character; as, she poses as a prude. He . . . posed before her as a hero. --Thackeray.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pose Pose, v. t. [Shortened from appose, for oppose. See 2d Appose, Oppose.] 1. To interrogate; to question. [Obs.] ``She . . . posed him and sifted him.'' --Bacon. 2. 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. --Barrow.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pos'e Po`s['e]", a. [F., placed, posed.] (Her.) Standing still, with all the feet on the ground; -- said of the attitude of a lion, horse, or other beast.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pose Pose, n. [AS. gepose; of uncertain origin; cf. W. pas a cough, Skr. k[=a]s to cough, and E. wheeze.] A cold in the head; catarrh. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pose Pose, n. [F. pose, fr. poser. See Pose, v. t.] The attitude or position of a person; the position of the body or of any member of the body; especially, a position formally assumed for the sake of effect; an artificial position; as, the pose of an actor; the pose of an artist's model or of a statue.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pose Pose, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Posed; p. pr. & vb. n. Posing.] [F. poser to place, to put, L. pausare to pause, in LL. also, to place, put, fr. L. pausa a pause, Gr. ?, fr. ? to make to cease, prob. akin to E. few. In compounds, this word appears corresponding to L. ponere to put, place, the substitution in French having been probably due to confusion of this word with L. positio position, fr. ponere. See Few, and cf. Appose, Dispose, Oppose, Pause, Repose, Position.] To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect; to arrange the posture and drapery of (a person) in a studied manner; as, to pose a model for a picture; to pose a sitter for a portrait.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(poses, posing, posed) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If something poses a problem or a danger, it is the cause of that problem or danger. This could pose a threat to jobs in the coal industry... His ill health poses serious problems for the future. VERB: V n, V n 2. If you pose a question, you ask it. If you pose an issue that needs considering, you mention the issue. (FORMAL) When I finally posed the question, 'Why?' he merely shrugged. ...the moral issues posed by new technologies. VERB: V n, V-ed 3. If you pose as someone, you pretend to be that person in order to deceive people. The team posed as drug dealers to trap the ringleaders. VERB: V as n 4. If you pose for a photograph or painting, you stay in a particular position so that someone can photograph you or paint you. Before going into their meeting the six foreign ministers posed for photographs. VERB: V for n 5. You can say that people are posing when you think that they are behaving in an insincere or exaggerated way because they want to make a particular impression on other people. He criticized them for dressing outrageously and posing pretentiously. VERB: usu cont, V [disapproval] 6. A pose is a particular way that you stand, sit, or lie, for example when you are being photographed or painted. We have had several preliminary sittings in various poses. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Attitude (formally assumed), posture, artificial position. II. v. a. Puzzle, stagger, embarrass, bewilder, perplex, mystify, nonplus, put out, put to a stand, confound, dumfound.

Moby Thesaurus

act, acting, action, actions, activity, acts, address, advance, affectation, affectedness, air, airs, appearance, arrange, ask, assert, attitude, attitudinarianism, attitudinize, attitudinizing, bearing, beck, beckon, befog, behavior, behavior pattern, behavioral norm, behavioral science, bewilder, bluff, bluffing, body language, bring before, bring forward, bring up, broach, cap, carriage, charade, cheating, chironomy, color, coloring, commend to attention, comportment, conduct, confound, confuse, culture pattern, custom, dactylology, deaf-and-dumb alphabet, deception, delusion, demeanor, deportment, disguise, display, dissemblance, dissembling, dissimulation, dog, doing, doings, dumb show, extend, facade, face, fake, fakery, faking, false air, false front, false show, falsity, feign, feigning, feint, folkway, four-flushing, fraud, front, gesticulation, gesture, gesture language, gestures, gilt, give, gloss, goings-on, grandstand, guise, hand signal, hold out, humbug, humbuggery, imitate, impersonate, imposture, introduce, kinesics, launch, lay, lay before, lay down, lugs, maintien, make a motion, manner, mannerism, manners, masquerade, masquerade as, meretriciousness, method, methodology, methods, mien, mimic, model, modus vivendi, moot, motion, motions, move, movement, movements, moves, observable behavior, offer a resolution, open up, ostentation, outward show, pantomime, park, pass as, pass for, pass off, pattern, peacock, peacockery, peacockishness, perplex, place, playacting, poise, port, portray, pose as, pose for effect, posing, posit, position, post, postulate, posture, posturing, practice, praxis, predicate, prefer, presence, present, pretend, pretend to be, pretense, pretension, pretext, prettiness, procedure, proceeding, profess, proffer, propose, proposition, propound, purport, put, put forth, put forward, put it to, put on airs, puzzle, query, question, recommend, represent, representation, seat, seeming, semblance, set, set before, set forth, set up, sham, show, show off, shrug, sign language, simulacrum, simulation, sit, social science, speciousness, stance, start, station, stick, strike a pose, strike an attitude, strut, stumble, style, submit, suggest, tactics, tender, tone, varnish, way, way of life, ways, window dressing