Hypertext Webster Gateway: "poised"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Poise \Poise\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Poised}, ; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Poising}.] [OE. poisen, peisen, OF. & F. peser, to weigh,
balance, OF. il peise, il poise, he weighs, F. il p[`e]se,
fr. L. pensare, v. intens. fr. pendere to weigh. See {Poise},
n., and cf. {Pensive}.] [Formerly written also {peise}.]
1. To balance; to make of equal weight; as, to poise the
scales of a balance.
2. To hold or place in equilibrium or equiponderance.
Nor yet was earth suspended in the sky; Nor poised,
did on her own foundation lie. --Dryden.
3. To counterpoise; to counterbalance.
One scale of reason to poise another of sensuality.
--Shak.
To poise with solid sense a sprightly wit. --Dryden.
4. To ascertain, as by the balance; to weigh.
He can not sincerely consider the strength, poise
the weight, and discern the evidence. --South.
5. To weigh (down); to oppress. [Obs.]
Lest leaden slumber peise me down to-morrow. --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
poised
adj 1: marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action;
"a gull in poised flight"; "George's poised hammer"
2: in full control of your faculties; "the witness remained
collected throughout the cross-examination"; "perfectly
poised and sure of himself"; "more self-contained and more
dependable than many of the early frontiersmen"; "strong
and self-possessed in the face of trouble" [syn: {collected},
{equanimous}, {self-collected}, {self-contained}, {self-possessed}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.