different between poise vs aspect

English

Etymology

From Middle English poys, poyse, from Anglo-Norman pois, Middle French pois (“weight”) and Anglo-Norman poise, Middle French poise (“measure of weight”), from Latin p?ns?re (“to ponder, weight, think”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: poyz, IPA^(key): /p??z/
• Rhymes: -??z

Noun

poise (countable and uncountable, plural poises)

1. A state of balance, equilibrium or stability.

   • plants and animals, which are all made up of and nourished by water, and perhaps never return to water again, do not keep things at a poise

2. Composure; freedom from embarrassment or affectation.
3. Mien; bearing or deportment of the head or body.
4. A condition of hovering, or being suspended.
5. (physics) A CGS unit of dynamic viscosity equal to one dyne-second per square centimetre.
6. (obsolete) Weight; an amount of weight, the amount something weighs.
7. The weight, or mass of metal, used in weighing, to balance the substance weighed.
8. That which causes a balance; a counterweight.
   • 1677, John Dryden, The State of Innocence

     Men of an unbounded imagination […] often wanted the poise of judgment.

Derived terms

Related terms

• peso
• pansy
• pensive
• avoirdupois

Translations

Verb

poise (third-person singular simple present poises, present participle poising, simple past and past participle poised)

1. (obsolete) To hang in equilibrium; to be balanced or suspended; hence, to be in suspense or doubt.
   • 1850, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Seaside and the Fireside

     The slender, graceful spars / Poise aloft in the air.

2. (obsolete) To counterpoise; to counterbalance.
   • 1699, John Dryden, Epistle to John Dryden

     to poise with solid sense a sprightly wit

3. (obsolete) To be of a given weight; to weigh. [14th-17th c.]
4. (obsolete) To add weight to, to weigh down. [16th-18th c.]
5. (now rare) To hold (something) with or against something else in equilibrium; to balance, counterpose. [from 16th c.]
   • 1597, William Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, I.2:

     you saw her faire none els being by, / Her selfe poysd with her selfe in either eye.

6. To hold (something) in equilibrium, to hold balanced and ready; to carry (something) ready to be used. [from 16th c.]

   I poised the crowbar in my hand, and waited.

   to poise the scales of a balance
7. To keep (something) in equilibrium; to hold suspended or balanced. [from 17th c.]

   The rock was poised precariously on the edge of the cliff.

8. To ascertain, as if by balancing; to weigh.

   • He cannot sincerely consider the strength, poise the weight, and discern the evidence.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• poise on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• speoi

Old French

Alternative forms

• peise (Anglo-Norman)

Noun

poise f (oblique plural poises, nominative singular poise, nominative plural poises)

1. weight
2. a unit of measure of unknown value (which presumably varied because of the technology of the time)

Descendants

• ? English: poise

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (poise)

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aspectus (“look, sight; appearance”), from aspici? (“see; catch sight of; inspect”), from ad- (“to, towards, at”) + speci? (“look, look at, behold; observe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æsp?kt/
• Hyphenation: as?pect

Noun

aspect (plural aspects)

1. Any specific feature, part, or element of something.

   Synonym: facet

2. The way something appears when viewed from a certain direction or perspective.
3. The way something appears when considered from a certain point of view.
4. A phase or a partial, but significant view or description of something.
5. One's appearance or expression. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: appearance, look, blee
6. Position or situation with regard to seeing; that position which enables one to look in a particular direction; position in relation to the points of the compass.

7. Prospect; outlook.
   • 1643, John Evelyn, Diary

     This town affords a good aspect toward the hill from whence we descended ; nor does it deceive us ; for it is handsomely built ...

8. (grammar) A grammatical quality of a verb which determines the relationship of the speaker to the internal temporal flow of the event which the verb describes, or whether the speaker views the event from outside as a whole, or from within as it is unfolding. [from 19th c.]
9. (astrology) The relative position of heavenly bodies as they appear to an observer on earth; the angular relationship between points in a horoscope. [from 14th c.]
   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book X, lines 656 to 664.
10. (religion, mythology) The personified manifestation of a deity that represents one or more of its characteristics or functions.
11. (obsolete) The act of looking at something; gaze. [14th-19th c.]
    • 1590, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, 924:

      The tradition is no less ancient, that the basilisk killeth by aspect ; and that the wolf, if he see a man first, by aspect striketh a man hoarse.

    • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter 1:

      ... his aspect was bent on the ground with an appearance of deep dejection, which might be almost construed into apathy, ...

12. (obsolete) Appearance to the eye or the mind; look; view.
    • 1684, Thomas Burnet, The Theory of the Earth, Vol 1, Chapter IX.

      They are both in my judgment the image or picture of a great Ruine, and have the true aspect of a World lying in its rubbish.

    • 1855, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, Vol. IV, Chapter XVIII

      Three days later he opened the parliament. The aspect of affairs was, on the whole, cheering.

13. (programming) In aspect-oriented programming, a feature or component that can be applied to parts of a program independent of any inheritance hierarchy.
14. (rail transport) The visual indication of a colour light (or mechanical) signal as displayed to the driver. With colour light signals this would be red, yellow or green.

Hyponyms

• (grammar): grammatical aspect, aorist aspect, iterative aspect, perfective aspect, imperfective aspect, semelfactive aspect, progressive aspect, perfect aspect; lexical aspect

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• (grammar): aspectuality
• (grammar): Aktionsart, aktionsart

Verb

aspect (third-person singular simple present aspects, present participle aspecting, simple past and past participle aspected)

1. (astrology, of a planet) To have a particular aspect or type of aspect.
2. (Wicca) To channel a divine being.
3. (obsolete) To look at.

References

• aspect on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Grammatical aspect on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “aspect”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• aspect at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Glossary of United Kingdom railway terms on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• epacts, escap't

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch aspect, from Middle French aspect, from Latin aspectus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??sp?kt/, /?s?p?kt/
• Hyphenation: as?pect
• Rhymes: -?kt

Noun

aspect n (plural aspecten, diminutive aspectje n)

1. aspect, element
2. aspect, appearance
3. (linguistics) aspect (grammatical category)

Derived terms

• aspectueel

Descendants

• Afrikaans: aspek
• ? Indonesian: aspek

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin aspectus. The grammatical sense is a semantic loan from Russian ??? (vid).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /as.p?/
• Rhymes: -?
• Homophone: aspects

Noun

aspect m (plural aspects)

1. aspect
2. (grammar) aspect (grammatical quality of a verb)

Further reading

• “aspect” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French aspect, Latin aspectus.

Noun

aspect n (plural aspecte)

1. aspect, look

Synonyms

• înf??i?are