poise

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To carry or hold in equilibrium; balance.
2. v. To be balanced or held in suspension; hover.
3. n. A state of balance or equilibrium; stability.
4. n. Freedom from affectation or embarrassment; composure.
5. n. The bearing or deportment of the head or body; mien.
6. n. A state or condition of hovering or being suspended.
7. n. A centimeter-gram-second unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimeter.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To weigh; ascertain by weighing or balancing; figuratively, to weigh; ponder; consider.
2. To counterbalance; be of equal weight with.
3. To balance; make of equal weight; hold or place in equilibrium: as, to poise the scales of a balance.
4. To hold suspended or in suspense; delay.
5. To weigh or press down; force.
6. To be balanced or suspended; hence, figuratively, to hang in suspense.
7. n. Weight; ponderosity; gravity.
8. n. A weight; especially, the weight or mass of metal used in weighing with steelyards to balance the substance weighed.
9. n. A thing suspended or attached as a counterweight; hence, that which counterbalances; a counterpoise.
10. n. A state of balance; equipoise; equilibrium; hence, equanimity.
11. n. The condition of balancing or hovering; suspended motion.

Wiktionary

1. n. obsolete Weight; an amount of weight, the amount something weighs.
2. n. A state of balance, equilibrium or stability
3. n. composure; freedom from embarrassment or affectation
4. n. mien; bearing or deportment of the head or body
5. n. A condition of hovering, or being suspended
6. n. physics A cgs unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimeter.
7. v. obsolete To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Weight; gravity; that which causes a body to descend; heaviness.
2. n. The weight, or mass of metal, used in weighing, to balance the substance weighed.
3. n. The state of being balanced by equal weight or power; equipoise; balance; equilibrium; rest.
4. n. That which causes a balance; a counterweight.
5. n. a dignified and self-confident manner; graceful composure and tact in handling difficult social situations.
6. v. To balance; to make of equal weight.
7. v. To hold or place in equilibrium or equiponderance.
8. v. To counterpoise; to counterbalance.
9. v. To ascertain, as by the balance; to weigh.
10. v. obsolete To weigh (down); to oppress.
11. v. To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a cgs unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimeter; the viscosity of a fluid in which a force of one dyne per square centimeter maintains a velocity of 1 centimeter per second
2. v. hold or carry in equilibrium
3. v. cause to be balanced or suspended
4. n. a state of being balanced in a stable equilibrium
5. n. great coolness and composure under strain
6. v. be motionless, in suspension
7. v. prepare (oneself) for something unpleasant or difficult