Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps related to Middle High German phūsen to breathe heavily, pant, snort (German pfausen to blow, breathe, pant, (now only regional: Bavaria, Austria) to breathe heavily or with difficulty), Middle High German pūsen to be swollen, to swell up (in late sources; German pausen , †bausen , now chiefly in the compound pausbäckig with full (lit. ‘puffed-out’) cheeks), Old Swedish pysa to breathe hard, pant (Swedish (now chiefly regional) pysa to blow, breathe heavily, pant, swell, (of a liquid or food) to boil over, and also (with different suffix) Dutch poesten to blow, wheeze (1599), Middle Low German pūsten to breathe heavily, puff out breath, pant, blow ( > German pusten to puff out breath, pant, blow, (now rare) to be short of breath, wheeze (15th cent. or earlier; rare before 18th cent.)), Swedish pusta to breathe, pant, perhaps related to the Germanic bases of pough n., boil n.¹, bosom n., bouk n., all of which (though each showing a different extension) are perhaps ultimately < the same (expressive) Indo-European base as classical Latin pustula pustule n.An alternative, though less likely, etymology derives this word < the Brittonic base of Welsh pas (c1400), Cornish pâz , Middle Breton paz (Breton paz ), all in the sense ‘cough’ < the same Indo-European base as hoast n. The only attested Old English form is posa (see quots.), apparently a neuter plural form with -a for -u as a result of confusion of unaccented vowels in later Old English (see A. Campbell Old Eng. Gram. (1959) §377); compare the earlier prefixed form geposu (plural) in the same sense:eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. x. 54 Wiþ gesnote & geposum genim oxna lyb niþeweard.OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) xlvi. 90 Wið geposu & wið þæt man hefelice hræce [L. Ad tussem gravem].

Etymology: Apparently < pose v.¹ Compare earlier depose n.French pose pose n.⁶ is apparently not recorded in this sense.

Etymology: Apparently shortened < posy n.

Etymology: < pose v.²

Etymology: < French regional (south-east, and western Switzerland) pose a land measure of varying size (12th cent. in Old French (regional: south-east, and western Switzerland); also pause ), specific sense of pose pose n.⁶, probably so called because it originally denoted the extent of land which could be ploughed before stopping to rest.

Etymology: < French pose action of resting (beginning of the 12th cent. in Anglo-Norman), moment, interval of time (c1140 in Old French; compare pose n.⁵), action or instance of putting something down or in place (1694), posture of a model posing for an artist (1792), attitude of the body (1831), (in the game of dominoes) the privilege of playing first (1832), pretence (1858), specific position adopted by a dancer (although this is apparently first attested later than in English: 1879 or earlier) < poser pose v.¹ Sense 1 apparently reflects a specific Canadian French sense development (apparently not recorded in dictionaries of French).

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French, French poser to place (a thing) in a certain location (late 12th cent.; see below for earlier senses in Old French), to suppose or assume (a proposition) for argument's sake (late 13th cent.), to declare, affirm (something) (second half of the 14th cent. or earlier), to place (a painter's model) in a certain attitude or position (1669), to propound or raise (a question) (1789), to lay down (a domino) (1792), to assume a certain position in order to be painted, drawn, or photographed (1822), to present oneself in a particular (usually assumed) character, to behave pretentiously or affectedly (first half of the 19th cent.; frequently in constructions with the prepositions comme and en ) < post-classical Latin pausare pause v.¹, also to sleep (Vetus Latina; from 7th cent. in British sources), to be buried (4th cent.; from 8th cent. in British sources), to be dead (5th cent.), to have a midday rest (6th cent.), to stay overnight (c700), to die (8th cent.), (transitive) to lay to rest, to put down, place (6th cent.). Post-classical Latin pausare was apparently influenced in its sense development by association with classical Latin pōnere to put, place (see ponent n. and adj.¹): see note below.In Old French the verb is found earlier in senses (not reflected by the English word) ‘to bury (a corpse)’ (end of the 10th cent. in Old French as pausar ), ‘(of a dead person) to rest in the grave’ (c1140 in Anglo-Norman), ‘to establish (a person) in an office or function’ (mid 12th cent. in Old French; rare before 19th cent.), ‘to lie on a bed’, ‘to fix, determine, establish (a name, date, situation)’ (both mid 12th cent. in Old French). Compare Old Occitan pausar , pauzar (Occitan pausar ) (intransitive) to stop or rest, to lie down, (transitive) to put (a thing) down or in place, to fix, determine, establish (a situation), to suppose or assume (a proposition) for argument's sake (second half of the 11th cent. or earlier), Catalan posar (transitive) to put (a thing) down or in place, to fix, determine, establish (a name, date, situation, etc.), to suppose or assume (a proposition) for argument's sake, (intransitive) to rest, stay (in temporary lodgings) (end of the 11th cent. or earlier), Spanish posar to rest, sit down, be seated, camp, stay (in temporary lodgings) (13th cent.), Italian posare (intransitive) to be placed on something, to rest on something (end of the 13th cent.), (transitive) to put (a thing) down (a1321), Portuguese pousar (transitive) to put (a thing) in place, put (a thing) down (1185), (intransitive) to stay (especially in temporary lodgings), to dwell, to rest (13th cent.). In French, Occitan, and Catalan, the descendants of post-classical Latin pausare largely superseded the descendants of classical Latin pōnere . The latter became semantically restricted, chiefly to the sense ‘to lay eggs’ (see pondre v.), while the descendants of pausare acquired the transitive sense ‘to lay to rest, to put or set down, to place’ which in classical Latin had been expressed by pōnere . In French, this development may have been reinforced by partial formal overlap of both verbs (compare classical Latin pos- , perfect stem of pōnere ); it is unclear whether the sporadic monophthongization of classical Latin -au- to -ō- (attested already in late Republican times, and by classical grammarians called a ‘rustic’ pronunciation) played a part in it, given that the reflexes of classical Latin -au- , -ŏ- , and -ō- remain distinct in most Romance languages, and the earliest attested forms of the verb in French show the diphthong. On the pronunciation in Latin see further W. S. Allen Vox Latina (1965) 60-62. The replacement of pōnere by pausare was extended in French and Occitan to the numerous compounds of the classical Latin verb, e.g. appōnere , compōnere , dēpōnere , dispōnere , expōnere , impōnere , oppōnere , prōpōnere , suppōnere , etc.: see appose v.², compose v., depose v., dispose v., expose v., etc. By contrast, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese retain the original compounds of pōnere . The exception to this tendency is repose v.², which has cognates in all Romance languages.

Etymology: Partly aphetic < appose v.¹, and partly aphetic < oppose v. (see discussion at these entries). With sense 2a perhaps compare earlier poselet adj., puzzle v. (see discussion at these entries).

Etymology: < pose n.²