posse

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See also: Posse

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Ellipsis of posse comitatus, 1640s.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

posse (plural posses)

  1. (US, historical) A group of people summoned to help law enforcement.
    Coordinate term: vigilante
    • 1986, Donald R. Lavash, Sheriff William Brady, Tragic Hero of the Lincoln County War, Sunstone Press (→ISBN), page 77:
      Mathews then appointed Morton as a deputy sheriff and after a posse had been selected, they went in pursuit of the criminals. Within a few hours, the posse overtook the thieves.
    • 2013, Andrew C. Isenberg, Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life, Hill and Wang (→ISBN), page 165:
      While Wyatt dismounted and aimed his shotgun at Brocius, the rest of his posse retreated.
  2. (US) A search party.
  3. (US, Jamaican) A criminal gang.
    • 1997, Michael D. Lyman, Organized Crime, Prentice Hall, page 287:
      Jamaican posses can be traced back to the Jamaican neighborhoods, and posse names correspond to the names of each neighborhood in which the gangs operate.
  4. (by extension) A group of associates.
    • 2014, April Boyd-Noronha, The Soul of a Single Parent: How to Snapback and Get Your SWAG On, AuthorHouse (→ISBN), page 77:
      But the few friends that I DO have are my “ride or die” chicks—my posse.

Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “posse” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2020.

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

(Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpos.se/, [ˈpɔs.sɛ]

Verb[edit]

posse

  1. present active infinitive of possum  "to be able (to)"

Noun[edit]

posse n (indeclinable)

  1. power, ability
  2. potentiality, capability of being
  3. (Late Latin) force, body of men
  4. (Medieval Latin) territory, dominion

References[edit]

  • "possum", see "Posse as subst. (poet.)" in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • posse in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
  • Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum tenere vix posse
    • (ambiguous) to be scarcely able to restrain one's laughter: risum aegre continere posse
    • (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: lacrimas tenere non posse
    • (ambiguous) to be hardly able to restrain one's tears: fletum cohibere non posse
    • (ambiguous) to be unable to speak for emotion: prae lacrimis loqui non posse
    • (ambiguous) to be unable to sleep: somnum capere non posse
    • (ambiguous) to have great influence with a person; to have considerable weight: multum auctoritate valere, posse apud aliquem
    • (ambiguous) to have great weight as a speaker: multum dicendo valere, posse
    • (ambiguous) to be unable to say all one wants: verbis non omnia exsequi posse
    • (ambiguous) to have a powerful navy: navibus plurimum posse

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin posse (“power, ability”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

posse f (plural posses)

  1. possession, land
  2. (uncountable) ownership
  3. (uncountable, politics) command
    • 2015 November 26, São José Almeida, “Cavaco deverá sublinhar desafios ao dar posse a Costa”, in Público‎[2]:
      No Palácio da Ajuda, tomarão posse todos os membros do Governo, os 17 ministros e os 41 secretários de Estado, numa cerimónia conjunta à imagem do que aconteceu a 30 de Outubro, com o XX Governo, liderado por Pedro Passos Coelho.
      (please add an English translation of this quote)
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