pose

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   assume a posture as for artistic purposes

   We don't know the woman who posed for Leonardo.

2. 2
   verb

   introduce

   This poses an interesting question

3. 3
   noun

   Common cold, head cold; catarrh.

   Now […] have we many chimnies, and yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses.

4. 4
   verb

   To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect.

   To pose a model for a picture.

5. 5
   verb

   To constitute (a danger, a threat, a risk, etc.).

   Rather, they are concerned with the threat Iran poses to the region and the world.

6. 6
   verb

   To assume or maintain a pose; to strike an attitude.

   He […] posed before her as a hero.

7. 7
   verb

   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.

8. 8
   verb

   To interrogate; to question.

   She pretended to […] pose him and sift him.

Etymology

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”).