pose
Pose, to place or adopt a posture, comes from French poser, while pose, to puzzle, is partly from the same French verb and partly a shortening of appose and oppose.[1][2][3]
Pronunciation
- IPA: /pəʊz/ (UK); /poʊz/ (US)[4]
pose1 place, posture
Etymology
It is Middle English posen, borrowed from Old French poser (“to put, place, propose”),[1][2][5] from Late Latin pausāre (“to halt, rest, cease”) (see pause).[2][1][3] The Late Latin verb also meant to cause to rest, and in the Romance languages it took over the senses of Latin pōnere (“to put, place”), through confusion with its stem pos-.[2][1][3] Skeat noted that English compose, depose, impose and propose therefore match the Latin compounds of pōnere in sense but not in origin.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
To suggest, suppose, assume for argument: about 1378, in Piers Plowman.[1][2]
Semantic evolution
To place something, put into a situation, is from before 1425, in Wycliffe.[1] To lay down a claim is 16th-century,[3] and to set forth a question or problem later.[6][7] To place in or assume an attitude, as for a portrait, is from the 19th century,[3] and the noun, a posture assumed for effect, from 1818, after French.[2][8][5] An attitude of mind or conduct is figurative from 1884.[2] To pretend to be what one is not, pose as, is a further sense.[6][7] An earlier English noun pose, a deposit or hoard, is from the mid-15th century.[2][8][9]
Timeline
- c. 1378 – to suppose.[1]
- before 1425 – to place.[1]
- mid-15th century – a hoard (noun).[2]
- 1818 – a posture (noun).[8]
- 1884 – an attitude of mind.[2]
Modern meaning
Verb
- To take or hold a position, as for a portrait or photograph.
- To place a model in a position.
- To put forward or present: to pose a question, to pose a threat.
- (pose as) To pretend to be what one is not.
- To adopt an attitude to impress others.
Noun
- A position of the body, especially one held for an artist or photographer.
- An attitude adopted for effect.
Word family
- poser
- poseur
pose2 puzzle
Etymology
It is partly from Middle French poser, to suppose, assume,[1][2] and partly a shortening of English appose, to examine closely (before 1333),[1][3] and of oppose in the same sense.[1][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
To question, interrogate closely: 1526, in Tyndale's New Testament.[1][2]
Semantic evolution
To puzzle completely, to nonplus, is from 1593, in Donne,[1][2] and a poser, a puzzling problem, from the 18th century.[3]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Verb
- (archaic) To puzzle, confuse or baffle.
Related words
- appose
- compose
- depose
- dispose
- expose
- impose
- juxtapose
- oppose
- presuppose
- propose
- repose
- suppose
- transpose
- pause
- position
Usage notes
The OED also has a pose meaning a cold in the head, catarrh, from about 1000.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)