Word.ws English Dictionary

pose

UK/pəʊz//poʊz/

pose noun: common cold, head cold; catarrh.

pose: common cold, head cold; catarrh
Image: Item is held by John Oxley Library, State Library of, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

pose (plural poses)

  1. (archaic) Common cold, head cold; catarrh.
    • Now […] have we many chimnies, and yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses.1586, William Harrison, Description of England
    • Megg yesterday was troubled with a pose, Which, this night hardned, sodders up her nose.1825, Robert Herrick, The poetical works of Robert Herrick

Verb (1)

pose (third-person singular simple present poses, present participle posing, simple past and past participle posed)

  1. (transitive) To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect.
    • To pose a model for a picture.
  2. (transitive) To ask; to set (a test, quiz, riddle, etc.).
  3. (transitive) To constitute (a danger, a threat, a risk, etc.).
    • Rather, they are concerned with the threat Iran poses to the region and the world.2010, Noam Chomsky, “The Iranian threat”, in Z Magazine, volume 23, number 7
    • Rooney's United team-mate Chris Smalling was given his debut at right-back and was able to adjust to the international stage in relatively relaxed fashion as Bulgaria barely posed a threat of any consequence.2011 September 2, Phil McNulty, “Bulgaria 0-3 England”, in BBC
  4. (transitive) To falsely impersonate (another person or occupation) primarily for the purpose of accomplishing something or reaching a goal.
  5. (intransitive) To assume or maintain a pose; to strike an attitude.
    • He […] posed before her as a hero.1840, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “A Shabby Genteel Story”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume IV, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC
  6. (intransitive) To behave affectedly in order to attract interest or admiration.
    • dressed-to-kill babes and their sugar daddies would rather pose in malls, and teenagers can find McDonald's anywhere, leaving Váci utterly dependent on tourists for its livelihood and bustle.2002, Charles Hebbert, Dan Richardson, The Rough Guide to Budapest, 2nd edition, London: Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 73
  7. (obsolete, transitive) To interrogate; to question.
    • She pretended to […] pose him and sift him.1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
  8. (obsolete, transitive) 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 or puzzle him.a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “(please specify the chapter name or sermon number)”, in The Works of Dr. Isaac Barrow. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: A[braham] J[ohn]...
    • The Doctor […] had likewise a pair of little eyes that were always half shut up, and a mouth that was always half expanded into a grin, as if he had, that moment, posed a boy, and were waiting to convict him from his own lips.1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC

Noun (2)

pose (plural poses)

  1. Position, posture, arrangement (especially of the human body).
    • Please adopt a more graceful pose for my camera.
    • Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps, with something of the stately pose which Richter has given his Queen Louise on the stairway,[…].1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC
  2. Affectation.

Verb (2)

pose (third-person singular simple present poses, present participle posing, simple past and past participle posed)

  1. (obsolete) To ask (someone) questions; to interrogate.
    • And hit fortuned that after .iii. dayes, they founde hym in the temple sittinge in the middes of the doctours, both hearynge them, and posinge them.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke ij
    • 'Tis my solitary recreation to pose my apprehension with those involved Ænigmas and riddles of the Trinity, with Incarnation and Resurrection.1642, Tho[mas] Browne, “The First Part”, in Religio Medici. […], 4th edition, London: […] E. Cotes for Andrew Crook […], published 1656, →OCLC, section 9, page 16
  2. (archaic) to puzzle, non-plus, or embarrass with difficult questions.
  3. (archaic) To perplex or confuse (someone).

pose meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

pose in Hindi

पोज दें, पोज़ दें, पोज देना

pose in Tamil

இரு நிலை, மனப்பான்மை, முன்வை, பொதித்தல்

pose in Marathi

पोझ द्या, पोझ देणे, पोझ देण्यासाठी

pose in Urdu

آسن, رویہ, چکر میں ڈالنا
More languagesFewer languages
pose in Bengali
অঙ্গবিক্ষেপ, ভঙ্গি, অঙ্গভঙ্গি, জাহির করা
pose in Telugu
భంగిమ
pose in Malayalam
ഭാവം bhāvaṁ
pose in Kannada
ಭಂಗಿ, ನಿಲುವು, ಕೃತಕ ನಡತೆ, ಸೋಗು
pose in Punjabi
ਮੁੱਦਰਾ muddarā
pose in Gujarati
પોઝ, પોઝ કરો, પોઝ કરવા માટે
pose in Odia
ପୋଜ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ, ପୋଜ୍ ଦିଅନ୍ତୁ, ପୋଜ୍
pose in Nepali
पोज, पोज दिनुहोस्, पोज दिदै
pose in Arabic
جِلْسَة jilsa, جَلْسَة jalsa, وَضْع waḍʕ, تَكَلُّف takalluf
pose in Indonesian
asana, pose
pose in Persian
پز poz

Examples of pose in a sentence

  • A brainteaser is a playful puzzle posed as a test of intelligence.
  • The spy's handler told him to approach the subject by posing as a dog handler.
  • Any unrecalled hazardous products continue to pose a risk to the public.

All 40 example sentences with pose

Forms of pose

Noun
pluralposes
Verb
third-person singular presentposes
present participleposing
past participleposed
pastposed
alternative formpoze

Past tense of pose: posed

Plural of pose: poses

Origin of pose

From Middle English pose, from Old English ġeposu pl (“cold in the head; catarrh”, literally “(the) sneezes; (the) snorts”), from Old English pos, ġepos (“sneeze, snort”), from Proto-West Germanic *pos, from Proto-Germanic *pusą (“sneeze, snort”), from Proto-Germanic *pusōną, *pusjaną (“to snort, blow”), from *pus- (“to blow, breathe hard”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to blow, swell”). Compare Low German pusten (“to blow, puff”), German dialectal pfausen (“to sneeze, snort”), Norwegian dialectal pysa (“to blow”).

From Middle English posen, from Old French poser (“to put, place, stell, settle, lodge”), from Vulgar Latin pausāre (“to blin, cease, pause”), from Latin pausa (“pause”), from Ancient Greek παῦσις (paûsis); influenced by Latin pōnere. Doublet of pause.

From Middle English posen, a combination of aphetic forms of Middle English aposen and opposen. More at appose, oppose.

Words formed from pose

Words that rhyme with pose

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pose

What does pose mean?
Pose means common cold, head cold; catarrh.
What is pose in Hindi?
Pose in Hindi is पोज दें, पोज़ दें, पोज देना. See Pose meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is pose?
Pose can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce pose?
Pose is pronounced /poʊz/ (US).
What is the plural of pose?
The plural of pose is poses.

Words near pose in the dictionary

  1. Posavina
  2. posavirus
  3. posaviruses
  4. POSB
  5. posca
  6. pose
  7. poseable
  8. posed
  9. posedness
  10. posedown
  11. posedowns

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pose (page history and authors); pose (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pose (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pose (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pose (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pose (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pose (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ഭാവം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); pose (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਮੁੱਦਰਾ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); pose (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pose (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); pose (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-pose.ogg.

Cite this entry: “pose.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pose. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.