pose 1
— posingly , adv.
/pohz/ , v. , posed, posing , n.
v.i.
1. to assume a particular attitude or stance, esp. with the hope of impressing others: He likes to pose as an authority on literature.
2. to present oneself insincerely: He seems to be posing in all his behavior.
3. to assume or hold a physical attitude, as for an artistic purpose: to pose for a painter.
v.t.
4. to place in a suitable position or attitude for a picture, tableau, or the like: to pose a group for a photograph.
5. to assert, state, or put forward: That poses a difficult problem.
6. to put or place.
n.
7. a bodily attitude or posture: Her pose had a note of defiance in it.
8. a mental attitude or posture: a pose cultivated by the upper classes.
9. the act or period of posing, as for a picture.
10. a position or attitude assumed in posing, or exhibited by a figure in a picture, sculptural work, tableau, or the like.
11. a moment in which a dancer remains motionless, usually in an assumed posture.
12. a studied attitude; affectation: His liberalism is merely a pose.
[ 1325-75; (v.) ME posen poser pausare to stop, cease, rest, deriv. of L pausa PAUSE; F poser has taken over the basic sense of L ponere "to put, place" and represents it in F borrowings of its prefixed derivatives (see COMPOSE, DEPOSE, etc.), prob. reinforced by the accidental resemblance of poser to positum, ptp. of ponere; (n.) deriv. of the v. ]
Syn. 3. sit, model. 7. See position .
pose 2
/pohz/ , v.t., posed, posing .
1. to embarrass or baffle, as by a difficult question or problem.
2. Obs. to examine by putting questions.
[ 1520-30; aph. var. of obs. appose, var. of OPPOSE, used in sense of L apponere to put to ]