posse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a group of people summoned by a law officer to help keep order or pursue a suspect

   The sheriff assembled a posse to search the hills before nightfall.

2. 2
   noun

   informal: a group of friends or associates who regularly spend time together

   She arrived at the concert with her usual posse.

Simplified etymology

Posse comes from medieval Latin posse, meaning “power,” and ultimately from Latin posse, “to be able.” In mid-17th-century Britain it meant an assembled force, especially the able-bodied local men whom a sheriff could summon to suppress a riot or pursue criminals.

Shortened from Medieval Latin posse comitatus, literally 'the power of the county,' the body of able men a sheriff could summon to enforce the law. In modern informal English, posse broadened to any close group of friends or associates.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary